I feel your anguish, Christine. A member of my extended family recently passed away at the age of 100, having spent her last years wishing for the day to come, fully aware that her body would not let her live any kind of enjoyable life, though mentally sharp right to the end.

And another is in her mid-90s, largely oblivious to the world, but the source of daily sadness for her daughter and granddaughter.

So many conditions that would have rapidly seen us off as soon as our immune systems and metabolisms weakened with age are now easily controlled through medication. And you can't simply decide not to take, or administer, a life-giving treatment.

But what kind of life does it give, beyond a certain point?

'Futile care', I think they call it in extreme cases. What a desperately sad expression to have to coin.

But increasingly what many of us can expect in the final years of our technologically extended lives.

Medical progress has removed or reduced so much suffering and grief, but sometimes it perhaps simply defers and reshapes our human anguish.