WHEN I got the news that my 92-year-old mother had had a pacemaker installed to treat an abnormal heart rhythm, I was aghast. She had not wanted to go on living, but the Alzheimer’s disease that had trapped her in an undignified, meaningless existence for several years prevented her from protesting.
Her living will, written well before the onset of her senility, stated explicitly that if there was no expectation that she would return to a dignified state, she did not wish invasive medical procedures. But her doctor had not paid attention. My brothers and I had not been told…
