Costs over compassion?

Re “L.A. Leads in Costly Care for the Dying,” Nov. 16

Are we as a community ready to solve the local healthcare crisis on the backs of chronically and terminally ill patients, as suggested by Dartmouth Medical School researchers? Isn’t providing quality medical services to the elderly both right and noble?

These Dartmouth professors’ contention that money spent for end-of-life care “is contributing to soaring national healthcare costs” impugns social responsibility and compassion for those near death and dying. As an alumnus of said college, I am embarrassed that these social scientists feel cost-benefit analyses trump both dignity and propriety.

DAN ANZEL

Los Angeles