Quote Originally Posted by Andres View Post
As it is now, people of old age can perfectly decide to refuse treatment for whatever disease they catch. You suggest older people should not get treatment because they're going to die soon anyway. Who are you to make the choice to be treated or not to be treated for them?
The reality is different. When a patient becomes unconscious unless there is a legally binding document that says otherwise, the doctors do what they think is best. So, too ill to not be treated, not quite ill enough to die.
Also the options are often "do what we want, or we do nothing for you" - either full on treatment, or die in pain. Palliation is not allowed in cases where treatment would work.

I've seen 93 year olds fitter than 55 year olds. Unusual, I grant you (55 year old was an alcoholic), but to base people on their chronological age rather than their physiological age is less and less useful the older one gets.