Too Old To Live
Scenario #1: Your husband of forty years has been diagnosed with bladder cancer. The doctor reports that the protocol would normally be surgery to remove the tumor, followed by a series of chemotherapy treatments over a period of four months. However, the doctor says, your spouse is ineligible for the treatment because he is sixty-seven years old. Scenario #2: Just at the time your wife is hospitalized following a stroke, you learn that the National Institutes of Health has announced that it is discontinuing funding for research on cerebrovascular disease. Medical staff at the hospital indicate that once your wife is stable, she will be transferred to a nursing facility where she will remain until her death. She will be kept comfortable, but she is ineligible for medical treatment because she is seventy-two years old. Scenario #3: While traveling home by car following a vacation, your spouse begins to complain of severe chest pain. You exit the interstate at the next city and find