Q. Do you find that older people are more resigned to death?

A. It's very individual. I took care of a fabulous woman who was 98, and she was full of energy and spirit. She had no children, so her caregiver was a niece, who was also very old. The woman was in one of these old people's homes in San Francisco, and when they heard we were going to treat her, they couldn't believe it. But she just perked right up and got all better. Two years later, when a second treatment stopped working, she said, "I've lived long enough. We shouldn't do any more."