People also don't want (their loved ones) to suffer, especially needlessly. (I want to also stress that I'm not advocating terminating life, though I do think it should be an option - just that this is what my grandfather wanted).
> In the US, exactly because of situations like this, that sort of thing is a lot harder today to pull off.
I've anecdotally heard that a huge percentage of US medicare costs is desperately saving elderly people at the end-stages of life instead of a more palliative (and some would argue dignified) end. This was made worse during the Terri Schiavo case when the very idea was put up as anti-life and we were warned that "death panels" would be inevitably setup. DNRs are allowed, but alleviating the suffering leading up to the end is, for both better and worse, heavily restricted.
> I'd suggest strongly in any case that you have a discussion with an oncologist if you ever get to that point. Things in medicine aren't nearly as black and white as people sometimes assume.
I've been extremely lucky that cancer hasn't been much of an experience I've had to deal with in my circles. I'm mostly pro-modern medicine and I know a lot of progress is also being made. I hope that it never happens, but if it did I'd want to be informed as possible to make my own decisions. The decisions I'd make depend so much on where I'm at. I'd be likely more willing to risk it now as I have a 7 year old to live for, than I would be in my 90s where the odds are a lot less for a comfortable experience.