Do you want to make it to 75?

[Dave2002]

Sod you lot! I'm approaching 71 and just getting started. I didn't defer my pension with the intention of only living just a few years on the resulting enhancement. I want to get full use of my hip replacement, which means going on until beyond 90. I'm in no hurry to get off the bus.

Beat you - just! No hip replacement yet, though. I intend to do all my best work/(or have fun) in the next 20 years.

[Conchis]

<< . . . By the time I reach 75, I will have lived a complete life. I will have loved and been loved. My children will be grown and in the midst of their own rich lives. I will have seen my grandchildren born and beginning their lives. I will have pursued my life’s projects and made whatever contributions, important or not, I am going to make . . . >>

If the author can say that with conviction and all honesty, then fair enough. But how many can say that?

Sounds like hubris to me. He's riding for one almighty fall!

[greenilex]

I certainly hope to make it to 75 this coming July...

[Bryn]

Beat you - just! No hip replacement yet, though. I intend to do all my best work/(or have fun) in the next 20 years.

The irony is, I had less than 36 hours waiting time for my NHS hip replacement. I tripped and fell against the sharp edge of a box, with such force that I snapped the top of my left femur. When the paramedics got me to A & E, shortly before midnight, the immediate plan of action was to pin the break, but when the senior saw-bones examined the x-rays the next morning, it was decided a hip-joint replacement would be the better option, despite there being no sign of osteoarthritis in the joint. Six days later I was out doing 2-mile woodland walks (with walking sticks, not the supplied crutches). It was a couple of months before I was back at work though.

[oddoneout]

The best laid plans...I hope things work out as he wants, but I also hope he is able to rethink if circumstances demand. I can understand his plan to avoid medical interventions after age 75, but I also wonder how much of it he will implement when push comes to shove and, more to the point, how easy he will find it to cope with and resist his family's views and wishes. I have both seen and experienced that situation, and sometimes a certain amount of compromise makes things better for all.
In all his discussion of the deficiencies of advanced age there seems little notion of quality of life being important, and that that can be subjective. The author lists the ways his father is less than he was before his heart attack, but doesn't seem to accept his father's assertion that he is happy. As humans we are all different in the ways we experience life and its challenges, including disease and debility. Some are unable to accept or adjust to a diminution of their powers whether mental or physical, others manage to do so and continue to enjoy life in their own way. Our perceptions of how we will react or cope in a given situation can be well adrift of the reality.

[richardfinegold]

Not sure how many of you in the U.K. Realize who the author is. One brother is Rahm Emmanuel, the current mayor of Chicago, and formerly Obama’s Chief Of Staff. Another brother is a high power entertainment industry agent, who was the inspiration for an HBO television series, the name of which I cannot recall.
Ezekiel himself is a well known—some would say notorious—Medical Ethicist who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations. He has long been an advocate of Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide and for rationing medical care. His positions were in great debate here a decade ago when Obama enacted his Health Care Plan. Since Zeke is on record as stating that spending the sums that we do in the last year of life is foolish and from a a societal standpoint would be better allocated delivering care to a younger indigent population, and because he was an Obama advisor, his positions were used to demonize the proposed Health Care Program (“they will pull the plug on Seniors and spend the savings on illegal aliens, etc.”). He has been low profile in the Trump years. Anyway, I felt that Forumites might appreciate the American background here

[vinteuil]

.

... thanks for that background, richardfinegold.

Interestingly in his essay he writes :

"Since the 1990s, I have actively opposed legalizing euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. People who want to die in one of these ways tend to suffer not from unremitting pain but from depression, hopelessness, and fear of losing their dignity and control. The people they leave behind inevitably feel they have somehow failed. The answer to these symptoms is not ending a life but getting help. I have long argued that we should focus on giving all terminally ill people a good, compassionate death—not euthanasia or assisted suicide for a tiny minority."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezekiel_Emanuel

[ ... personally I'm all in favour of euthanasia / assisted suicide. ]




.

[richardfinegold]

[QUOTE=vinteuil;728275].

... thanks for that background, richardfinegold.

Interestingly in his essay he writes :

"Since the 1990s, I have actively opposed legalizing euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. People who want to die in one of these ways tend to suffer not from unremitting pain but from depression, hopelessness, and fear of losing their dignity and control. The people they leave behind inevitably feel they have somehow failed. The answer to these symptoms is not ending a life but getting help. I have long argued that we should focus on giving all terminally ill people a good, compassionate death—not euthanasia or assisted suicide for a tiny minority."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezekiel_Emanuel

[ ... personally I'm all in favour of euthanasia / assisted suicide. ]

Right, I didn’t want to to get to involved in my original post, , but the emphasis is his quote of since the 1990s. His earlier writings were quite different. I actually heard him give a “Grand Rounds” in the mid eighties at Northwestern, where I did my Medical Residency. At the time he wasn’t famous , but it was his earlier positions that of course were trumpeted by the opponents of Obamacare. His ideas on the “rationing” of Medical Care I think have remained more consistent.

[Dave2002]

Richard thanks for the clarification re the author. I had no idea that the he might have had “form” re finances and end of life care. I’ll have to read the article again, though it did look fairly well thought out, even if some of the ideas might be controversial. I think there can be good life after 75 and medical treatment should not be denied after that age, though not every treatment is appropriate. Some treatments, such as cataract removal, don’t appear to be too problematic, and may give a significant boost to the lives of those who have them, even allowing them to continue some activities such as driving which would otherwise be difficult or impossible, or illegal.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Do I want to make it to 75? Given the only other option; yes.

[Jazzrook]

I certainly hope to make it to 75 this coming July...

I also hope to make it to 75 this coming July.
Bob Dylan will be 78 in May and is still on his 'Never-Ending Tour'!

JR

[cloughie]

Bob Dylan will be 78 in May and is still on his 'Never-Ending Tour'!

But he’s Like a Rolling Stone!

[Serial_Apologist]

But he’s Like a Rolling Stone!

He'll be all white!

[greenilex]

I have an idea his world-view supports the “never ending” idea.

Not my philosophy.

[Sir Velo]

The best laid plans...I hope things work out as he wants, but I also hope he is able to rethink if circumstances demand. I can understand his plan to avoid medical interventions after age 75, but I also wonder how much of it he will implement when push comes to shove and, more to the point, how easy he will find it to cope with and resist his family's views and wishes. I have both seen and experienced that situation, and sometimes a certain amount of compromise makes things better for all.
In all his discussion of the deficiencies of advanced age there seems little notion of quality of life being important, and that that can be subjective. The author lists the ways his father is less than he was before his heart attack, but doesn't seem to accept his father's assertion that he is happy. As humans we are all different in the ways we experience life and its challenges, including disease and debility. Some are unable to accept or adjust to a diminution of their powers whether mental or physical, others manage to do so and continue to enjoy life in their own way. Our perceptions of how we will react or cope in a given situation can be well adrift of the reality.

All remarkably easy to take this insouciant attitude to one's old age when one is still some way off the target! Let's wait and see what the gent's views are on the occasion of his 74th.