Major surgery is not a pretty sight to be sure. However, I am truly thankful for the wonders of modern medicine. I have several family members and close friends with serious disability or health conditions that would not be alive today without first-rate healthcare, highly qualified professionals and high tech equipment that makes all the difference between life and death.

We tend to forget that many procedures performed routinely nowadays were either uknown or technically impossible just a few decades (or maybe even years) ago. What was state-of-the art medicine in 1900 would be considered barbaric today. And if you think modern battlefield surgery borders on torture, imagine how you would feel about a field hospital of the Napoleonic era for instance.

I agree that sometimes modern medicine tends to prolong life even when rationally speaking, it might be better to let nature take its course. On the other hand, it's also true that we are wired as human beings to cling to our earthly existence for as long as possible. I don't think you can really appreciate life until you're on the brink of losing it.