I had a strong reaction to that too. Of course we devote more health-care effort to people in the last 5-10 years of their life, which primarily (but not entire

I had a strong reaction to that too. Of course we devote more health-care effort to people in the last 5-10 years of their life, which primarily (but not entirely) means older people. There is practically no world in which that wouldn't be the case, because everyone's health trajectory eventually trends downward. By the time someone reaches the ICU (other than as a result of trauma) not only the immediate problem but likely several others will have progressed to problematic levels. That's also where the most labor- and dollar-intensive treatments tend to be applicable. It's just basic statistics, really. Cars also cost more in maintenance late in their life cycles, and so do many other things. A flat age distribution in the ICU would be super weird and probably an even worse allocation of resources. I don't think the author really meant that to come across as callous as it sounded. Probably just poor choice of words. I'm only addressing it because someone else reading it here might interpret it in more of an "older people stealing from younger ones again" kind of way for demographic or ideological reasons. ETA: it already happened as I was writing this.