The life expectancy of our population has increased over 30 years in just 200 years. Thus, there are now more senior citizens than ever before. Also, there are now more women than man. The gender gap appears at 35, and it keeps getting larger as age increases. In order to live such a long life, researchers have found that unpolluted air, pure water, lean vegetable diet, daily naps, good genes, exercise, a network of supportive friends and family, and occasionally, red wine. Also, it is recommended to exercise physically, exercise mentally, not to smoke, lose weight, control your blood pressure, and to establish social networks. Unfortunately, older people tend to have poorer mental health, such as depression--adults aged 65 years or older are the most likely to contract this mental illness. Also common, are dementia and Alzheimer's. Dementia occurs when protein builds up on the brain's nerve cells. This disease occurs in nearly one third of all adults aged 85 and over. It is no wonder that our society has a fear of aging. However, some individuals consistently look forward to becoming grandparents. Grandparents either have remote, compassionate, involved, or authoritative relationships with their grandchildren. 4 out of 5 "older people" have at least one sibling. Just as grandparents have different types of relationships with their grandchildren, senior citizens have different types of relationships with their siblings. They can be intimate, congenial, loyal, ambivalent, or hostile. There are benefits to agin such as having more time to spend with family and friends, but there is a heavy financial burden. Medical procedures and associated costs costume up to 20% of our GDP. And due to this, younger generations will not be able to enjoy financial benefits as the current senior citizen populations.
2. Interesting
I found it very interesting that they categorized the stress of retired husbands as RHS. I found it very interesting that such a disease actually exists, and I was not surprised by the idea at all--if the woman comes to get used to years of living her life alone most of the time and then suddenly, another being enters the picture that wishes to change the way she leads her life, anyone would develop stress.
3. Questions
What are your views on physician-assisted suicide? If the person requests to be humanely euthanized, what are your views opposing to it?
I saw an episode on a show "Dr. Oz" as I was passing through channels and the debate was exactly on this. People who were paralyzed spoke and some wanted to die as well as others wanted to live their life. I can see there being a point in it when one is helpless or in excruciating pain but that is it. If there is no cure for these things other than death maybe one could do it but in most cases I believe that this situation could get messy really fast. For example, it is said that elderly beatings occur from the elders children who are stressed from taking care of them. With this being the case, there is almost incentive to try and fake a letter from the elder to ask for this assisted suicide. Also doctors will start to compete with rates on this, competing for business in the "killing industry". This may seem like an exaggeration but is very possible in the world we live in if we legalize this. If anything I think marijuana has more of a chance being legalized than this.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion on physician-assisted suicide is that if the person has a disease that has no cure and will only get worse/more painful with time. If they want to die and request to do so on their terms, instead of the disease's terms, then I don't see anything wrong with it. As long as the person is in the right state of mind, the family is aware of their desire, ad there is absolutely no cure for their disease (or won't be a cure anytime soon), then I think it's better to have them die with help from a professional then take matters into their own hands. Think of it this way: your grandma wants physician-assisted suicide; would you rather (1) have a trained professional put some kind of drug into her IV drip so that she dies a quick, painless death; (2) suffer through the pain/frustration of her disease; or (3) come home to find her dead from taking pills or some other form of committing suicide?
ReplyDeleteI support PAS if the patient requests it. However, I do think it becomes difficult if the patient is in a situation where they're only being kept alive by a feeding tube and obviously cannot express their wishes. I think it's important to write down what you would like to have happen if your life was ever put in that type of a situation, but many people are probably convinced that it will never happen to them so there's no need. I don't think anyone would want to be kept alive in that situation or have to watch a family member live the rest of their life that way. For example, my grandmother was kept alive solely by machines for a significant period of time because my mother and her sisters couldn't stand to see her pass away, but in my opinion they were just prolonging her pain and suffering.
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ReplyDeleteAs a physician, it is your job to assist your patients to the best of your ability. If the person under your care has cancer, your goal is to get rid of the tumors--permanently. If your patient has a broken ulna, you’d want to set it and have it heal properly. Why, then, if the best* solution for the patient is death, would you not help him/her to accomplish this?
ReplyDelete*"Best," in this case, meaning the course of action that the patient wants to pursue/deems necessary.