I didn't read Mr. Ezekiel Emanuel's Atlantic piece very carefully. I couldn't. He's so, not only redundant but verbose that I guess Atlantic pays by the word. But basically in the US individuals have the ability to decline medical intervention with medical directives (and are now being urged to complete one) and nursing homes are filled with people who have signed "DO NOT RESUSCITATE" forms for EMTs who might show up.
So people are free to do as Mr. Emanuel plans to do. Then what's the point of his article beyond focusing medical research on quality of life, as Tom points out? The article is really a form of deep lobbying to cut medical spending on OTHER people who won't or don't make the choice that Mr. Emanuel will. Gene On Sep 24, 2014, at 4:36 PM, Gar Lipow <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 12:38 PM, Tom Walker <[email protected]> wrote: > To be fair, the author says, "I am not advocating 75 as the official > statistic of a complete, good life in order to save resources, ration health > care, or address public-policy issues arising from the increases in life > expectancy." As long as he's only talking about his own healthcare choices > and not advocating a policy, I don't see the problem. > > The two policy implications he does outline also seem rather benign -- not > basing evaluation of health care quality on longevity and focusing biomedical > research spending on quality of life rather than radical interventions for > prolongation of life. Given the choice of living 10 more years without > Alzheimer's or living 15 with Alzheimers, I know which one I would chose. > > > > He is not just saying it is something he is personally choosing. He is > saying others who don't make the same choice are making a bad decision for > themelves and for society. He doesn't need to draw malignant policy > conclusion. Once the premises are established, he can leave other other to > advocate the obvious. This is not a slippery slope. It is a goddamn ice > cliff. > > BTW he is overlooking some important medical studies. For example one study > showed that healthy people dies faster than the unhealthy. Not sooner. But > they go from pretty good to dead in a shorter interval, wearing out more like > the wonderful one horse shay, and less like a car getting less and less > reliable. That is a huge argument against his points on antibiotic use and > preventative care. This is not a "slippery slope". This is a goddamn ice > cliff. > > And yeah there are circumstances when I would not want radical intervention > myself. But he is framing it as a duty to self and society, with a nice > simple age cuttoff. > > On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 1:22 AM, Gar Lipow <[email protected]> wrote: > > This proposal to cut off all but palliative healthcare for people over 75 may > be trial balloon, rather than just journalistic trolling. David Roberts said > in his facebook page that he agrees with every word. Ezra Klein tweeted the > link without comment. With Social Security cuts off the table, at least > until 2015, instead of forcing old people to live on cat food, I guess the > "Church of the Savvy" now wants to see if it can turn old people into cat > food instead. > > My mom is 92, and she recently managed to lacerate her shin. The laceration > became infected and is now being treated with antibiiotics. One of the things > this article advocates is no antibiotics for people over 75. > > Ice floe bioethics. We are better off dead after 75, so denying us medical > care from then is for our own good. The fact that it would fatten the profits > of the masters of the universe is merely a happy co-benefit that it would be > in very bad taste to discuss. > > http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/09/why-i-hope-to-die-at-75/379329/ > > -- > Facebook: Gar Lipow Twitter: GarLipow > Solving the Climate Crisis web page: SolvingTheClimateCrisis.com > Grist Blog: http://grist.org/author/gar-lipow/ > Online technical reference: http://www.nohairshirts.com > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > > > > -- > Cheers, > > Tom Walker (Sandwichman) > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > > > > -- > Facebook: Gar Lipow Twitter: GarLipow > Solving the Climate Crisis web page: SolvingTheClimateCrisis.com > Grist Blog: http://grist.org/author/gar-lipow/ > Online technical reference: http://www.nohairshirts.com > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
