:debate: Live long and.... get sick?

[Maria de Luna]

Hey mankind is totally living longer... which is awesome and has no downsides, right?
apparently not...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2012/12/13/people-global-diseases/1766831/

The longer we all live the worse off many people seem to be. is it good that we are keeping people alive longer but making their lives harder, or should we be letting people just die at a certain point, because their quality of life would be bad?

What do you think?

[B. de Corbin]

Re: :debate: Live long and.... get sick?

When the average life expectancy was 65, you didn't see a lot of lung cancer (no matter how much people were smoking) - lung cancer has an average age of onset of 65.

Men didn't die of prostrate cancer a lot either - again, death from prostrate cancer comes much later.

Not a lot of Alzheimer's either...

So, yeah. Live long and prosper... er, I mean, die horribly.

[Ophidia]

Re: :debate: Live long and.... get sick?

I don't believe in prolonging life unnecessarily. If you require machines to breathe for you, feed you, etc., let go already. Yes, modern medicine is amazing, but there are limits to what should be done to maintain the minimal amount of health necessary to qualify as 'living'.

I think the simple fact that people are living longer is contributing to our population and economical problems. I work with a number of people who are well into their 70s and still working full time jobs. The main reason they're in those positions and not retired is because they can't afford to live on retirement money. Many of them bought homes later in life and are still trapped in mortgages. Some are buried in student loans for their kids or themselves. Some have major health issues that aren't fully covered by insurance, and since they work full-time they don't get SSI or Medicaid/Medicare. Hell, one of my coworkers is in his fifties & had another kid - he seriously can't afford to retire. That's another piece of the population puzzle - for every 'teen mom' out there, there's a past-middle-aged mom and or dad producing kids. These older parents are going to be running into a situation where they may not stay fit long enough to see their kids out the door - and their teen-aged kids are going to have to shoulder a horrible burden of having to care for sick, elderly parents a few decades before they're ready.

On a personal level, I have an age in mind - if I reach it and still feel like a decently healthy productive individual, I'll continue living. If my future looks bleak, I'm ending it. Hopefully, I'll still have my faculties to make that decision & not already be too far gone.

[Maria de Luna]

Re: :debate: Live long and.... get sick?

That's another piece of the population puzzle - for every 'teen mom' out there, there's a past-middle-aged mom and or dad producing kids. These older parents are going to be running into a situation where they may not stay fit long enough to see their kids out the door - and their teen-aged kids are going to have to shoulder a horrible burden of having to care for sick, elderly parents a few decades before they're ready.

I worry about this with my father in law, He is awesome and I love the man to death, but he is 82 years old, and had to quit working full-time just quite recently because of a heart attack. It means me and my husband are moving into their house to help out... Which is mostly fine but has its own inherrent issues... But I really do understand this. The man is even the person who makes dinner every night, and has had to stop doing that as well. My husband and I are not really in a position to take care of his father monetarily and if something happens to his mother, I don't know what we would do. granted the mother in law is still in her 50's but she is in very poor shape for her age.

[AzazelEblis]

Re: :debate: Live long and.... get sick?

Last I knew, there was research into ways to retard or reverse the ageing process.

Until then, I say that people do simply need to be let go after a point. No, not a number. My great grandmother lived to be 93 years old - she hit 91, and was still walking a couple of miles to church every single day to pray and volunteer. Only after she broke her hip at that age did her quality of life go downhill. Her inability to heal properly kept her wheelchair bound, and her mind really went from the lack of stimulation. She was in and out of the hospital repeatedly after that. After a point, there was simply nothing doctors could do - infections simply did her in. We were glad to "Send her home" as the saying goes - she was suffering too long.