The word Death itself makes people afraid, angry, and frantic. The conversation is
about autonomy. For example, what makes life worth living, and if in keeping people alive
for longer, we are sealing them to a fate worse than death.
Modern medicine has done great things in extending the average life expectancy. In
1885 the average life expectancy was just over 45 years. Today it is about 77. With these
improvements, we have also extended how we die. With extended life, we get to live
longer but at the cost of our autonomy. As aging occurs our ability to maintain
autonomous weakens due to weakened mental and physical health.
The senior citizens often times end up in assisted living nursing facilities. Most of
the time, against their own decision, usually one of their adult children’s make the
decision. Nursing homes consist of scheduled meals, constant supervision, adult diapers,
wheelchair-bound residents, and depressing nights. Most people do not want this, they do
not want to give up control of their own life and the ability to see people when they want
to and do the things that they want to.
By us continuing to extend life, and taking away the decision making of an end of
life patient, we are more often than not condoning them to a life they would rather not live.
References
1. Kliff, S. (2015, May 19th). “How Americans’ Refusal to talk about death hurts the
elderly”. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2015/1/11/7517211/end-of-life-care
