The inheritance money argument would be a good one if it weren't for the fact that care homes and hospitals get the inheritance money instead.
There's still some sentience in middle stage dementia, but by the late stage there's literally no one home any more. It's really not obvious what - never mind who - is being kept alive.
It's certainly not a simple problem. But there are existing systems for legal oversight of care, and of power of attorney over family wealth. It doesn't seem an impossible stretch to extend those to allow early termination in cases of extreme suffering or total and irreversible loss of cognitive function.
We have a neighbour in the very late stages of terminal cancer. He's completely lucid. He wants to go, his family want him to go - this has dragged on for over a year now - and it's hard to see a good moral reason for extending everyone's suffering even further.
There's still some sentience in middle stage dementia, but by the late stage there's literally no one home any more. It's really not obvious what - never mind who - is being kept alive.
It's certainly not a simple problem. But there are existing systems for legal oversight of care, and of power of attorney over family wealth. It doesn't seem an impossible stretch to extend those to allow early termination in cases of extreme suffering or total and irreversible loss of cognitive function.
We have a neighbour in the very late stages of terminal cancer. He's completely lucid. He wants to go, his family want him to go - this has dragged on for over a year now - and it's hard to see a good moral reason for extending everyone's suffering even further.