There was a huge row in Sweden about a year ago when the public health care system decided to stop giving expensive medication to some guy who would die without it. He was interviewed on tv about how it would kind of suck to die and all and there were enough protests that he got it back eventually (I think).
Yeah, but that sort of thing is hardly normal (and, though maybe Sweden is different, is usually driven by pharmaceutical companies trying to con extra money from the healthcare system). The key point is that decisions on withdrawing treatment are not made on political grounds; the idea that they are (or would inevitably be) is paranoid fantasy.
