didn't you hear about Obama saying that an old women with heart problems might be better off taking a pain killer than having a surgical procedure performed? The mind boggles! I sure don't want this jackass in charge of my health care!

I know several physicians who, when diagnosed with certain conditions, preferred to spend their remaining days making their peace with rivals, taking one last trip to Venice, spending time with people they care about or even planting their gardens with roses rather than embarking on heroic treatment. Their judgment was that the potential benefits of treatment were not worth the risk and personal cost of converting their remaining days into a stressful slog focused on procedures and nasogastric tubes rather than things they really care about. Such decisions are made after a career observing decisions made by and for others in similar circumstances. We are all entitled to our own opinions about this but until we find ourselves in that situation it isn't easy to know what we would prefer. IMHO the appropriate response is to provide sufficient information for people to make a decision that makes sense to them. FWIW this does happen in many cases and has led to "NFR" (not for resuscitation) decisions by patients in the US and elsewhere. Seen in this light, suggesting that somebody may prefer conservative treatment to heroic surgery isn't quite so cruel.