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Daniel Callahan, PhD, Director of International Programs at The Hastings Center, wrote in his June 1994 article, "Setting Limits: A Response," that appeared in The Gerontologist:

“We could not possibly guarantee indefinitely to the growing number and proportion of the elderly all of the potentially limitless fruits of medical progress at public expense without seriously distorting sensible social priorities…

The average per capita costs of the elderly are significantly higher than for younger people. Public policy must take account of, and work with, those averages… Age matters…

It matters when, as we can now see, meeting the health care costs of the elderly as a group begins to threaten the possibility of meeting the needs of other age groups. In the nature of the case, moreover, there are no fixed boundaries to the amount of money that can be spent combating the effects of biological aging and attempting to forestall death in old age. It is an unlimited frontier. One could say exactly the same thing about trying to save the life of low birthweight infants… There are no end of possibilities there as well, and thus, some very good reasons to set limits to those efforts… It is no more an anti-aging act than it is an anti-baby act to set limits (for instance, on neonatal care) in order to avoid pursuing unlimited, potentially ruinous possibilities.”

June 1994