We have a warped perception of death, especially as it relates to the elderly, and we can do some horrible things because of it. My grandmother wanted the option of euthanasia when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier this year, but it's not legal. So we got to watch her suffer a horrific and indescribably painful death, at the end of which she went two weeks without food and five days without fluid intake. The doctors, it should be noted, were somewhat horrified at how long it took her to die.

I can't forget something my father said after hearing about how my grandmother was doing. He said in an anguished voice, "You wouldn't let a dog die like this. How can you let a person?"

Oftentimes, death is the moral choice, as well as the economic.