Four thousand men, women and children are kept alive by machines in "vent farms," or subacute care units, in California nursing homes.

Inewsource's Joanne Faryon and Brad Racino debuted a series this week digging into life-support care in California, visiting the Villa Coronado Skilled Nursing Facility a number of times to hear the stories of patients, doctors and families. According to Faryon's story, the cost of care in these subacute units has more than doubled over the last decade, up to about $636 million last year alone.

"This is where people go when they don't get better," Racino told us on the latest episode of the podcast.

The takeaway for readers? Fill out an Advance Directive. "They're kind of like living wills that just say, 'This is what I want in the case of an injury,'" said Racino.

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