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from the but-what-dreams-may-come-when-I-have-shuffled-off-this-mortal-coil? dept.
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."
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Magic Oddball on Tuesday September 23 2014, @02:14PM
This exactly. Most able-bodied people have no idea what it's like to have significant disabilities (mobility-impaired, deaf, incontinent, etc.) even if they actually know someone like that, so they conjure up an imaginary reality and base their assumptions about how they'd feel on it. It doesn't seem to matter how many people with the conditions in question speak up, either...
Then when the person actually reaches that point in life (whether through age, disease, accident, etc.), in most cases they come to realize that they adapted to it just like they had adapted to the drastic changes in interests, energy levels, pleasures, etc. from being a child to an adult. They might even notice that the vast majority of the frustration, depression, or pain isn't inherent to their body, but is related to outside factors, like doctors being unwilling or unable to prescribe adequate pain control, a caregiver or relative that shames them for needing different kinds of help than before, being lonely because they've isolated themselves for various reasons (feeling alienated, like they're a drag, being unable to afford the cost of going out socially, etc.).
Those perceptive folks often try to speak up and share their revelation, but the current crop of able-bodied folks ignores their attempts to enlighten others, just as he/she ignored the previous generation of disabled/elderly folks.
FWIW, I was born with defects in my upper GI, lower GI, trachea, lungs, reproductive tract, kidneys, cervical spine, spinal cord canal, and brain (mostly visual & auditory processing, plus pressure from a slight herniation)...so I have a good idea of what I'm talking about. Did (or do, given not much has changed) I look ready to give up on life? [imgbox.com] ;-)