Do the elderly have a moral responsibility to choose suicide?

[mebanedeac]

As the number of elderly people grows and creates an increasingly heavy burden upon both families and culture; should elderly persons choose to terminate their lives rather than use up resources for no productive purpose?

 

[ImTheCaptain]

yes

 

[TownieDeac]

People should do their best not to be a drain on their families financially, but money also shouldn't be the only decision driving end of life care and decisions. I don't think there's an answer to this in every case - it's a personal choice for people and their families.

 

[Liquid Karma]

I absolutely agree that parents should not be a financial burden on their children, nor should they try to guilt trip their kids into providing for them in their later years.

 

[PhDeac]

I have a friend whose grandmother was going through these issues. The level of financial planning necessary to avoid being a financial and personal burden in old age seemed staggering. It seems like so much of the system is set up to drain resources at the end of the life to take advantage of the desire to prolong life.

 

[deacondamo]

People should do their best not to be a drain on their families financially, but money also shouldn't be the only decision driving end of life care and decisions. I don't think there's an answer to this in every case - it's a personal choice for people and their families.

This is probably the right answer. You can't just check a box. Each situation is individualized. I know that I would rather be floating in the afterlife than in a home strapped to a wheelchair with advanced dementia.

 

[TownieDeac]

I think physicians have a moral and ethical responsibility to participate in epidemiological studies to start addressing end of life care as a cost driver of health care costs in the US. Unfortunately, the incentives aren't really there for physicians in fee for service settings to do anything other than prolong life forever.

 

[94Deac]

Christ, talk about a loaded question.

 

[EatLeadCommie]

There's a place for mebane on the death panels.

 

[RevDeac06]

As the number of elderly people grows and creates an increasingly heavy burden upon both families and culture; should elderly persons choose to terminate their lives rather than use up resources for no productive purpose?

Maybe I'm conflating posters, but I thought mebane was an Evangelical Christian? Who hacked his account? But to answer the question- how about when abortions are allowed for the same reason?

What an awful question- no, absolutely not.

 

[PhDeac]

It's a loaded question to support some point mebane will come back and make later.

 

[ChrisL68]

People should do their best not to be a drain on their families financially, but money also shouldn't be the only decision driving end of life care and decisions. I don't think there's an answer to this in every case - it's a personal choice for people and their families.

This is the correct answer IMO.

 

[JuiceCrewAllStar]

I absolutely agree that parents should not be a financial burden on their children, nor should they try to guilt trip their kids into providing for them in their later years.

Without taking a stance on the issue, I want to point out that this is a very middle- and upper-class American view of family and relationships.

 

[avalon]

It's a loaded question to support some point mebane will come back and make later.

Sadly there will be "normal" people who will be neither shocked nor disturbed by this.

At least it's on the Tunnels!

 

[ONW]

"Medicare, the health insurance program for the elderly, spends nearly 30 percent of its budget on beneficiaries in their final year of life. Slightly more than half of Medicare dollars are spent on patients who die within two months.

Although Medicare costs for services have continued to rise over the years, the proportion of payments for persons near death in relation to Medicare's total budget has changed little."

http://www.thirteen.org/bid/sb-howmuch.html

Very tricky ethical question.

 

[PhDeac]

Without taking a stance on the issue, I want to point out that this is a very middle- and upper-class American view of family and relationships.

I hope you weren't expecting much different on these boards.

 

[JuiceCrewAllStar]

Of course not, but it's a good place to start discussion. Why are we so obsessed with independence from family? Why do we consider it a burden when many other culture of respect for elders? What the fuck you gonna do when you get old?

 

[ImTheCaptain]

you can respect someone and still consider them a burden.

 

[Liquid Karma]

It's a loaded question to support some point mebane will come back and make later.

It's probably some loose comparison to poor people.

 

[TownieDeac]

Of course not, but it's a good place to start discussion. Why are we so obsessed with independence from family? Why do we consider it a burden when many other culture of respect for elders? What the fuck you gonna do when you get old?

There's probably something to do with the American Dream or American Exceptionalism. This idea of leaving the next generation off better than you had it.