Vast chunk of our health care dollars are spent on elder care during the last 6 months of life. If we just shot them up with morphine, and didn't try to save "lost causes", we would have lower insurance premiums, but I wouldn't like the society we would have become.
I agree I would not like that in a society either. We discussed this very issue with my elderly parents and when it came time there were no heroic measures for either one of them. It was hard, but the right thing to do. The both were ready for heaven.