"one who wishes months or years of suffering and misery on the terminally ill solely to assuage her own conscience" was a reference to the person you were arguing with and an attack, hence a personal attack.

I didn't see that other comment. If you see a post that ought to have been moderated but hasn't been, the likeliest explanation is that we didn't see it. You can help by flagging it or emailing us at hn@ycombinator.com. (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...)