In 2014, Ezekiel Emanuel — a health policy expert, medical ethicist, and oncologist — published an essay titled “Why I Hope to Die at 75.” In this recent article, Emanuel, who is now 65, explains why he will likely maintain his position to stop accepting all medical treatment at age 75.
His original essay was controversial and as such, was quoted, debated and critiqued at the time (although I hadn’t heard of him until the new article). From what I read, his reasoning is that an average human’s health and abilities steadily decline from age 40 onward and then steeply drop off around age 75. He talks about steep declines in physical, mental and creative abilities that lead to becoming a burden on your children and family caretakers. Then he discusses how modern medicine n the US is over-invested in long lifespan rather than promoting a high-quality lifespan.
None of this is new to me. I’ve heard these ideas before from medical professionals as well as everyday people. In fact, I have made a deliberate to live by a “limited medical treatment” policy for most of my life. Of course, that’s an easy rule to follow when you’re young and healthy.
At 55, I’m not so young anymore. Nor am I immune to the injuries, illness, and diseases that often accompany aging. My current practice is to rely on medical professional for acute care – hernia repairs, broken bones, torn ligaments etc. As for long term care, chronic conditions and routine “preventative” healthcare – forget it.
I have no intention of paying a doctor to advise me on diet, exercise, cholesterol, etc. or of relying on the US’s current medical system to guide me.
I saw how it worked for over 20 years with my wife. She was overcharged, overprescribed, under serviced, over tested and eventually suffered a lingering painful death. While her death was not the fault of the system, I fully feel the system made her suffering worse in order to bill more.
I’ve got very strong feelings about cancer treatments, statins, fat vs. sugar, the food pyramid, SRIs for depression, Oxycontin, routine colonoscopies, medical insurance, and a multitude of other routine standards promoted by the industry.
I don’t trust them.
Perhaps that makes me sound like a fringe conspiracy theorist. Whatever.
I’m not. Neither, I suspect, is Ezekiel Emmanuel. Nor are the thousands of people who accept dying on their own terms by refusing treatments at the end of their lives.
I’m not trying to change the world. I’m not even trying to change one person’s mind. You life is your business, just as my life is mine.
If I live to 75, then today, my life is 75% over. So be it.