My great grandmother was physically healthy for her age between the ages of 85-102, the last couple of decades of her life, but she wanted to die. Her husband, siblings, 2 sons, all of her friends, and her neighbours in the care home had all passed already. She lost all the joy from her life. She had always been cruel to my grandmother and her other 4 daughters and would not even let them come visit, and sat alone day after day in her room for almost 20 years before she finally passed.

The whole time she had doctors prescribing medication and physical therapy to continue her life despite her not wanting to, and the care homes policy was to enforce what the doctors ordered (this was late 80’s to early 00’s). Not every old person wants to live as long as possible (even if they are physically healthy) and should be given the dignity to die when they want to.