&gt; Do you really think anyone&#x27;s trying to keep frail old people alive just to count off more days?<p>I think that&#x27;s a pretty good description of what&#x27;s going on in the last decade of a lot of people&#x27;s lives. There&#x27;s a huge bias toward high risk invasive procedures that have a high probability of leaving the patient debilitated even when the expected lifespan increase is fairly modest. Our penchant for hope in difficult circumstances leads to a lot of unnecessary suffering. There is plenty in modern medical practice to consider &#x27;barbaric&#x27;. Skepticism with regard to the current crop of medical utopists is warranted, because assuredly current barbaric medical practices were developed and implemented, overwhelmingly, with the best of intentions.