On a site dedicated to exploring health and wellness, it might at first glance seem a bit odd to find a link to a source talking about elder assisted suicide.
[As a quick aside, let me make my personal position crystal clear on the topic – I am against all forms and every practice of assisted suicide on moral grounds. Clearly adherents and supporters of the practice can put forth, at least on some level, cogent arguments, however, particularly in the context of the “elderly” as discussed in the links below, I find even the discussion abhorrent.]
That said, one of our goals here is to present occasional medical policy topics that have practical and current standing; given as to how media outlets such as the New Year Times have recently called attention to the issue, and physician friends have continued to report discussions along this line by entities ranging from local medical ethics committees to national professional association level, policy-articulating boards, I felt it reasonable to throw this out there.
Several months ago I was actually sent this link – Promoting ‘Rational’ Elder Suicide – by a physician friend; this friend (who shall remain nameless for obvious reasons) holds an appointment in a prominent American School of Medicine, heads his specialty department, and has served several stints on medical ethics boards for local centers as well as an ethics task force for his specialty nationally. He also happens to hold a JD in addition to his medical degree; of note, he never actually practiced law.
In his email he lamented that, for a variety of reasons, in his opinion we’re going to see a “significant push toward acceptance of assisted suicide for a an ever-enlarging spectrum of issues, including its routine use in the elderly who have outlived their resources, have diminished functional capacity and ability to meaningfully and consistently contribute to the greater society as a whole.”
Sober food for thought, and yet another reason to optimize one’s health and maximize one’s functional capacity for the long haul.
And back to more uplifting regular programming tomorrow…
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