Honestly? It's hard to say. In many ways, it depends on the circumstances.
About 20 years ago, my grandmother (mother's mother) went into respiratory distress, fell into a coma, and was placed on a respirator. She was 80 years old, had end-stage emphysema, Parkinson's Disease, and had contracted pneumonia (the cause of the respiratory distress). After 3 weeks, when her health had not improved, and with the blessing of the Reform rabbi of his congregation (although I suspect Grandpa would have done the same without that blessing), my grandfather had the doctors remove the respirator. The doctors had told him that she would die within minutes; she lived another day... and to this day, I am convinced that she knew the respirator was pulled on her birthday, and was determined to die on another date; she was a strong-willed woman. And I think it was the right decision in her case.
A few months later, my grandfather (father's father - so, the other side of the family) also contracted pneumonia. Because of multiple strokes, his mental capacities were limited - this also meant that he could not be placed on a respirator for his respiratory distress unless he was placed in an artificial coma, or even have an IV in place, because he would become agitated and remove them, with damage to himself. My grandmother was given the choice of treating the pneumonia and letting him die of dehydration (because of his mental state they couldn't hydrate him with an IV, and couldn't get him to drink enough either), or not treating him and letting the fluid in his lungs slowly suffocate him. The latter was deemed less painful and distressing, and that was the choice she made... again, with the support of the Reform rabbi (different Temple - different state, as well). They could have kept him alive - but it would have been existence, not living.
Fast forward to the present. My last living grandparent (my mother's father) is 98 (my other grandmother died in her sleep at 94), and is deaf, nearly blind, has arthritis in his hands and wrists so bad that he can't use his hands, can no longer stand, is incontinent, and suffers from depression, diabetes and high blood pressure. Several weeks ago, he developed a urinary tract infection as well. The nursing home contacted my uncle and aunt, told them about the infection and a couple of other things that had come up recently (such as refusing food), and offered two choices: provide authorization for life support in the future, or hospice care. With the accord of the family, he was placed in hospice, where he is being made comfortable, and the only medication he is still on is for his high blood pressure; he is awake rarely, and lucid even less rarely (my uncle - his son - has medical power of attorney) - we are waiting for him to die, and honestly, for his sake, I wish he would. He is not living now - he is existing - and that is all he has been doing for at least the last year. When Grandma was in the nursing home, Grandpa used to tell us that, before he reached that point, he would shoot himself - and if he couldn't we should do it for him... but that's not legal.
There are as many other possible scenarios as there are people involved in them. As far as life support - I have a DNR (do not resuscitate) on file with my doctor. If it's temporary - say, during surgery - that's okay with me. But I don't want to live that way - and I don't particularly want to linger on, as 3 of my 4 grandparents have done.
The problem with making the decision for someone else is that it is a very emotional decision; in addition, it's a slippery slope to allow life support to be removed at all (as much as I agree that it could - maybe even should - be done so in the case in the article). Where do you draw the line? Who makes the decision? Who decides if a person cannot recover? Is there an age limit? What if the person has no relatives, or they disagree? What if the person's insurance runs out, or they don't have any? What if the insurance will pay indefinitely? What if you know that the person would like the supports removed, but have no written documentation? What if there's a DNR and it's not followed? What about if emergency life support is provided at an accident in violation of a DNR, because the EMTs didn't know about it?
