I generally agree that there exists a point where keeping someone alive is mostly just because we feel weird about letting them die; there are people kept artif

I generally agree that there exists a point where keeping someone alive is mostly just because we feel weird about letting them die; there are people kept artificially alive that aren't 'living' in any meaningful sense. But that's not how Emanuel is framing it: "Older Americans live too long in a diminished state, raising the question of, as he put it, 'whether our consumption is worth our contribution.'" What an absolutely despicable way of viewing people living into old age; the moment you aren't contributing, its time to get the axe. I don't think its a coincidence that he's an American: we place an unhealthy amount of value on the labor someone does. "These people who live a vigorous life to 70, 80, 90 years of age—when I look at what those people “do,” almost all of it is what I classify as play. It’s not meaningful work. They’re riding motorcycles; they’re hiking. Which can all have value—don’t get me wrong. But if it’s the main thing in your life? Ummm, that’s not probably a meaningful life." Note that he's not talking about people who are ill and lying in bed; he's just talking about people who, after 50+ years of contributing their labor to society, get to enjoy "play". They get to see their grandkids grow up and get married, while not working for the final decades of their life. Claiming that those years don't constitute "a meaningful life" is so patronizing and presumptuous.