A Life Lived is No Justification for a Death Unchosen

Platitudes spoken after the death of elderly friend have a way of turning into justifications for that death. This is the flip side of the "fair innings" argument that is used fairly openly these days in rationed medical systems to direct resources away from providing treatments to the old. You have lived, now get along and die. Or perhaps it is a little of the old evolved conservatism in human nature, the urge to conformity: everyone else is dying, why not you? Or perhaps this is entwined with ageism, that older people are worth some fraction of a younger individual for whatever justification makes the everyone feel better about themselves. Even the older people go along with this, which is a shame. A death at any age is just as much a loss, and in this era of nascent rejuvenation biotechnology, members of the research and development community could be achieving far more than is currently the case to improve health and reduce mortality in old age. You're probably familiar with the feeling of slight disappointment that you may have when a good thing - say, a nice trip - is over. Just as you say that it's too bad that the experience is already finished, someone will probably say that you had a good time nonetheless; an innocent, fitting expression to cheer you up a little bit. This phrase can be harmlessly used in a variety of circumstances, but there's one in which it really doesn't fit at all, yet people keep using it: when somebody dies of aging. Death alwa...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs