How should the old live? Should we stop life-extending treatment to those over 75?

I’m much taken by the story of an obese man in his 80s who in the winter months went for a walk alone in high hills. He slipped, fell, and broke his ankle. He survived only because a passer-by hugged him to keep him warm and organised an ambulance. Months of operations and hospital treatment followed, but despite needing care the man is alive and enjoying life. Has government money been well spent rescuing this man, or, as a friend says, should they have “just have left the old fool?” In another story a doctor tells me how he advised a friend in his 80s who had had two unsuccessful operations to decline further treatment. He and the friend even practised saying “No thank you” to the surgeon. The friend did decline treatment and died a week later, saying that he had had a good life and was ready to die. The surgeon rang my doctor friend and angrily berated him, saying “that man need not have died.” These stories rattle around in my head as I try to digest Setting Limits: Medical Goals…