But I think Dickens would have found treating a human life in this way mystifying.
Think of the words of the Ghost of Christmas Present, in A Christmas Carol:
“Man,” said the Ghost, “if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man’s child. Oh God! to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust!”
Incidentally, I used this quote in commenting on an article about the Alfie Evans situation in the Daily Mail. Needless to say, it did got get past the censors. The attitude of the average Briton appears to be, "he's going to die anyway, so he might as well do it, and decrease the surplus population."