A growing debate in Western society concerns the financial, personal, and moral costs of keeping people alive on life-support machines. For example, many people argue that treating secondary diseases in terminally ill older adults or keeping them alive on life support makes little sense. They argue that such treatment is extremely expensive, that these people will soon die anyway, and that needlessly prolonging their lives is a burden on society. In these cases, it is argued, both the person and society would be better off if the person were allowed to die.
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