The ending almost reads like satire. He was picturing a happy, smiling liver and wonders whether it was that positive visualization or the massive doses of penicillin that did the trick? It’s like something from the Onion.
To be fair, I've watched a lot of people on the brink of death. (I was a paramedic for a time.) You could often tell the ones that would die despite very similar presentation to one's that would live. The difference was the ones that would live had fight in their eyes. You see that too with folks waiting for a loved one to get there before they die. They can push it back for hours or even days if they've got the fight to do it. They even teach that to rescuers in search and rescue: often people that have hung in for days fighting to survive see their rescue and then they relax and start going downhill fast.
Long story short, there definitely is something to your mental game in a situation like this.
It's a smaller effect than the others, but it's there.
May not be the same thing, but afterdrop is an issue with rescued drowning victims which can lead to Circum-Rescue Collapse which can lead to cardiac arrest.
I'm not sure if there is consensus on this but the adivce I was given for rescue scenarios is to keep the patient tense. Raising voice at them, increasing stress, telling them they are still in danger and need to keep fighting.
The author is not considering the efficacy of physiological factors. He is endorsing magic, prayer and amateur medical research as realistic alternatives to medicine.
