In an age when medical treatment can keep a frail person going for a long time, one has to keep asking how much care is the right amount. Resistance to the culture of death must, in a sense, balance with development of a positive culture of death.

When the inevitable scarcity of health resources hits, there will be a big differnece between the government saying “We won’t pay for any more treatment” and a dying person welcoming, following St. Francis, Sister Death.

A revival of the “ars moriendi” (the art of dying) would be useful, but I wouldn’t give you good odds on it happening