DNRs are very common in America for a reason separate from the rest of the world - elsewhere they tend to be mostly a philosophical choice to minimize your own

DNRs are very common in America for a reason separate from the rest of the world - elsewhere they tend to be mostly a philosophical choice to minimize your own personal pain and cost on society. In America they primarily exist to shield family members from cost - it isn't uncommon for a funeral to be accompanied by a lot of additional stress because your father was kept alive for five additional days at a cost of 50k/day and suddenly the surviving family is trying to sort out grief, finding a quarter of a million dollars (or potentially sending the entire estate into bankruptcy) and the additional tens of thousands of dollars funerals cost. Death in America is pretty darn expensive. Edit: I'd clarify something - in the US (like almost everywhere) debt cannot be inherited alone. An estate can be declared bankrupt when someone dies and then debtors are limited to just taking chunks out of the estate to the best of their ability - but if shared property is held by the deceased then it can cause serious harm to inheritors. My favorite example is a multi-generational house which can force inheritors into debt to keep the roof over their head.