Gina Kolata quotes Dr. Joanne Lynn, who directs the Washington Home Center for Palliative Care Studies, saying

People talk as if the stopping of dying from heart disease is always a good thing. It is as if just extending life is always terrific. That may be true if you are talking about a heart attack in a 45-year-old man, but if you are talking about an 85-year-old man, what is often left is frailty and dementia. Is it worth it? At the very least we ought to know what we are doing.

Quality of life counts for something, doesn't it? But still, how many people will prefer death? And of those, how many will be allowed to die? Meanwhile, there's less money to treat younger people with many healthy years ahead of them.