Dr. Feargal Twomey:

There are some long-standing illnesses with which people can live for some time with treatment and management, including heart disease, COPD and so on. That might be relevant to Deputy Daly's question. Someone might have a progressive illness but the determination of a prognosis or expectation of death within months or even years is not realistic. There are conditions that progress to a stage where the prognosis is much shorter. Very severe heart failure with recurrent hospitalisations for care can have a poorer prognosis than many cancers.