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Bioethicist At National Institutes of Health: "Why I Hope To Die At 75"
HughPickens.com writes Ezekiel J. Emanuel, director of the Clinical Bioethics Department at the US National Institutes of Health, writes at The Atlantic that there is a simple truth that many of us seem to resist: living too long renders many of us, if not disabled, then faltering and declining, a state that may not be worse than death but is nonetheless deprived. "It robs us of our creativity and ability to contribute to work, society, the world. It transforms how people experience us, relate to us, and, most important, remember us. We are no longer remembered as vibrant and engaged but as feeble, ineffectual, even pathetic." Emanuel says that he is isn't asking for more time than is likely nor foreshortening his life but is talking about the kind and amount of health care he will consent to after 75. "Once I have lived to 75, my approach to my health care will completely change. I won't actively end my life. But I won't try to prolong it, either." Emanuel says that Americans seem to be obsessed with exercising, doing mental puzzles, consuming various juice and protein concoctions, sticking to strict diets, and popping vitamins and supplements, all in a valiant effort to cheat death and prolong life as long as possible. "I reject this aspiration. I think this manic desperation to endlessly extend life is misguided and potentially destructive. For many reasons, 75 is a pretty good age to aim to stop."
His choice. I for one intend to drink every bit of snake oil that I think will keep me alive a little longer, until such time that I decide I don’t want to live any more. George Carlin pretty much summed up my views on all this stuff with his "And don't be pulling any plugs on me either" bit.
Worried about tax dollars pointlessly keeping my mostly useless ass alive (yay for socialized medicine)... hell no. I’ve paid taxes most of my life, many of which have been wasted on stupid nonsense, they can waste a few on me.
I get it if people are in pain, or feel like they can no longer contribute anything, and sitting there watching TV all day just isn’t doing it for them. If you are tired of life, fine, I’m all for giving people the option. On the opposite end you’ve got my Grandfather who is well into his 80’s and just finished remodeling his bathroom, and my friend’s Grandmother who while physically is showing her age, can still hold her end of a conversation, enjoys spending time with people, plays cards, etc.
Every year, past 70, take up a new extreme sport. One day you will simply forget to pull the parachute cord. Go out with a bang, doing something that will make the news "80 year old surfs Tsunami"
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
My parents are both 75+.
And still doing fine.
Yeah, they've slowed down a bit, and have some aches and pains they didn't have 20 years ago. But they still walk the dog a mile or so each day. And Dad still mows five acres (give or take, the treeline could have moved some over the last decade) of his yard weekly.
I think this bioethicist bozo is forgetting that "75" is life expectancy at birth. If you make it to 75 today, odds are good you've got another decade or two in you*. And if you're born today, by the time you're 75, you should have four or five decades left*.
* barring unpredictable things like terminal cancer, of course.
Note that my wife's parents were both born in the early 1920's, and both lasted into this decade. Arguably, they'd have both been better off to have died a year earlier than they did (in both cases, their last year was pretty bad), but that still meant 85+ good years starting from before the Great Depression....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
I think the problem comes from medical professionals only or almost always dealing with the people who are having terrible health problems. If the only time you see older people is when they're in pain or suffering from horrible illness, you wouldn't want to be old either. I suspect that as many of them actually age they find that they still enjoy life and that when they retire they're able to spend time with their families and grandkids and that being old isn't a constant state of suffering or misery. However, medical professionals are only exposed to the worst of old age, so it's hardly surprising that they have such a negative outlook.
It's easy to sit back from my position and say that, but I would imagine that my opinions would change if the vast majority of my day were spent being confronted with what happens to people who don't take care of their bodies or experiencing other illnesses that aren't currently preventable. If nothing else, one would think that this would motivate medical professionals to take good care of their health, so they can avoid finding themselves in that position.
On one of the days when he was doing OK I told him that he was suffering from dementia and that he was talking to people that weren't really there. He was surprised and asked me to repeat that. When I confirmed that on his bad days he was talking to people that weren't really there his response was, "Well, at least I'll never have no one to talk to."
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My view on bucket list. It should be things to do to keep you alive, not things to do before you die.
My thoughts exactly. He'll change his mind.
Quite likely, especially since his basic premise is wrong. Many people get dementia as they age, but many others don't. It is not inevitable. I know bright, active people in their 90s.
You see stories about people at 100 years old. It's news because it isn't that common. I know people who are active into their 90's. I know a lot more in their late 70's who are living on maintenance drugs and opiates, riddled with pain pretty well fuzzed out. A little older, and they are starting the dementia trip, with nursing homes at the ready to take their estates.
I think the problem is that people see the outliers, and assume that's how they will age. I don't want people determining the quality of my life by looking at the lucky ones wh oage gracefully. If I do - fine. But I watched enough family members die over a many year period. Not goiing to happen to me unless I catch a stroke that keeps me from exiting with some dignity.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Are you coming back from dementia to tell us with precision and so many certitudes about it? I mean, you haven't been in the head of these people to judge. Don't confuse the distress of relatives with what you believe the patient is living.
Achille Talon
Hop!