What if he thinks that his wife never wanted to have and would have hated the thought of her twilight existence, and that divorcing here would mean leaving care decisions to her parents, dooming her to it for as long as they could come up with the dough?

Perhaps his efforts on getting the plug pulled are actually motivated by his love for his wife, regardless of the fact that fifteen years' worth of water has passed under the bridge since she died in all the ways that matter.