Dr. Ezekiel Emanual, who is an adviser to Biden regarding covid, has previously come out with the notion that people really shouldn’t be living past 75. He believes creativity and productivity decline significantly for most people after this age. I agree with him that way too much money is spent in trying to stave off the inevitability of death. But, I don’t think we have an obligation to die at 75 or shortly thereafter. I can think of many people I know personally who have been and are very productive past 75.
There was a point in my life when I thought that if I was past
70 and needed a pacemaker, I wouldn’t get one.
I am 75 and I am still quite healthy and active, so if I was confronted
with the question of a pacemaker at this point, I might do it. On the other hand, I so wish my mother hadn’t
agreed to one at the age of 80. She was
already in frail condition, although we didn’t know the full extent at that
point. For example, we didn’t know that
one of her renal arteries was plugged resulting in one of her kidneys being
non-functioning. She had the pacemaker
put it. Shortly after that the
circulatory problems in her legs became worse.
They were planning to do surgery on her legs and in the process of
testing discovered the non-functional kidney and a partially blocked renal
artery on the other side. They decided
they needed to place a stent in the renal artery that was partially blocked
before trying to deal with the leg issue.
When they anesthetized her for that surgery, she had a heart
attack. Her blood pressure bottomed out,
but the pacemaker kept her heart beating and she survived. A couple of weeks later, she had a massive
stroke, but the pacemaker kept her alive.
She then spent 5 months suffering and requiring total care. In the end, because the circulatory problem
in her legs hadn’t been dealt with, she developed gangrene. I was caring for her in my home, and I kept
her totally doped up on narcotics so that she didn’t feel the pain. If she had been in a nursing home, there
would have been more suffering and huge expense for care of lesser quality than
I offered.
My Dad lived to be 90 enjoying woodworking in the basement
until the last 2-3 years. He was only in
a nursing home the last 6 days of his life. My father-in-law worked until he
was 96, and only required help the last 6 months. He ran a charity that provided simple
irrigations systems to bare subsistence farmers in undeveloped areas of the
world right up to those last 6 months. My husband is 77. He still runs, plays pickleball and serves on several boards.
I now live in a retirement community, and I can’t believe the
productivity and creativity I see around me.
There are some amazing musicians here…people who are still performing
and arranging. There are so many artistic
endeavors that a fantastic new arts center is under construction. There are people who go off-site to work at
various charities….one of those is a home for boys who have bombed out of
foster care. An inventors’ club was
recently started. Women in Knitters Anonymous
create items for 7 different charities. Retired
ministers go off-site to preach in local churches. Of course, there are people in the skilled
nursing and memory care units or those who sit in their apartments aimlessly,
but the place is also a beehive of activity.
Many are still making a significant impact past the age of 75.
I think as we age, we have an obligation to weigh our
decisions carefully as to how much medical intervention we seek. We may not want to ever be on life support, but
how many pills would one have to take before they ended up qualifying as “life
support?”
My concern is if we ever reach a point where the government or
a panel of its “experts” make decisions for us after we are 75. Or suppose instead of our thoughts being
taken into account, children…even those from whom we may be estranged…get to
make decisions. Women have a right to
terminate their unborn children. Will
children ever have the right to terminate their parents?
Will the government have a right to deny care to those over 75?
Will we be obligated to have a big 75th birthday
celebration because it is planned to be our last?