Because in Hallmark Card land, no one ever dies. I don't know what those sympathy cards are for, but trust me...it is possible to cheat death. In the old days you knew people who got sick, had a few visits from the doctor who would eventually say, "there's nothing we can do", and you died. People were dying everywhere, there was no escape from it. Thusly people realized that there was an end to life, and you'd better try make the best of the time you have.
Today a person gets sick, gets whisked away to a loud, pornographically lit hospital with visiting hours. Doctors ram tubes in every orifice, hook 'em up to several beeping, flashing machines and pump them full of drugs, because there's never "nothing we can do" any more. If we're lucky, a "miracle" recovery will happen (wasn't it science what gave us those damn tubes and drugs?) and the person will be tottering around for a couple more years. If we're not lucky, they'll die, and get whisked away to a funeral home, and you'll get to see them a couple days later in a box, painted up like a whore. Then if you still feel sad a week after that, you can go to your doctor and they'll perscribe pills that make you feel happy again. It's just weird to me that everyone sees doctors as "saving lives" when in fact, they're really only extending them.