The story on the conjoined twins was touching and tragic, but there is one aspect of the decision-making process that was not addressed. To some extent it is the parents decision, but the issue of who is going to pay the millions of dollars to provide the care needs to be addressed.  If the family has the resources to pay for the care then they should have the sole decision-making authority.  But if Medicaid or Blue Cross/Blue Shield or Aetna, etc. is going to be billed for the care then it affects all of us. The millions of tax dollars Medicaid would have spent on a case like this could be used to provide immunizations and treatment to a thousand uninsured children.  The millions that Blue Cross Blue Shield or Aetna would have spent on cases like this causes every other family on that plan to pay higher insurance premiums, with some families becoming uninsured because of not being able to afford the higher premiums. In a world with unlimited resources it would be nice to provide maximum care to everyone, but we do not have unlimited resources.  For those who think Obamacare will solve this problem, you couldn't be more wrong.  Healthcare rationing is an integral element of Obamacare. Even with rationing Obamacare is likely to be way over budget and result in major tax increases or reduction in the already low payments to doctors and hospitals or both.  Many hospitals have already gone bankrupt from providing uncompensated care and because Medicare and Medicaid pays less than the cost of care.  It may sound heartless but when there is a 0% chance of survival, who is paying the bill matters. In America we are compassionate.  We believe that everyone has the right to the best medical care money care buy....as long as someone else pays for it.