Not only Archie

Mary is 89 years old and has been living in Scotland all her life. She lives in a nursing home, with a few aches and pains on her shoulders. One day she contracts an infection that affects her lungs and digestive system. Her health deteriorates quickly and she is taken to the hospital, where she is kept for only two days before being sent home, as the infection reaches its peak. The verdict is trenchant: Mary doesn’t have a life expectancy that can justify a permanent (and costly) stay at the hospital, much less in intensive care. But before discharging her, the doctors make sure to facilitate the process, by taking her off her usual medication and denying her any form of palliative therapy that would at least alleviate her pain. Mary has a granddaughter, an Italian medic, who is furious with the doctors, but nonetheless hears herself ...