What about quality of life?
We now save people who would have died 30 years ago. People with severe trauma, stroke, heart attack, brain damage, and so on. We save preemies who would never have survived even 20 years ago. We see people living with severe chronic illness, people in nursing homes unable to care for themselves, people with severe birth defects and disabilities whose conditions would have dramatically shortened their lifespan as recently as two or three decades ago.
But thanks to technology, medication, early intervention, intensive care, first responders, organ transplant, a vastly expanded continuum of care, sophisticated treatments that are now available in the home, and much more, many of these people are able to survive.
Notice I said survive...not live. What about quality of life? What about the emotional, physical, and financial costs to the families? So we are all asking ourselves...what are people really entitled to? Just because we CAN provide healthcare services...does that mean we should?
I find it astounding that an inmate in prison for a life sentence may receive a heart transplant--and be higher on the list than a working father of four--all paid for by our tax dollars.