When should we just let old people die ?

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I know someone who has gotten multiple organ transplants.

I was told that just one of the operations was over one million dollars in cost. He is on the organ receiver list again for a new liver. He's in his early 70s. He goes to the hospital often for treatments.

Thankfully, it's all "free" to him, since he uses Medicare.

Should we pay any amount, any price, to keep old people alive a little longer, or should we draw a line in the sand somewhere?

Last edited by LoveNotHate on 07 Apr 2017, 7:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Considering apparently younger people who are damaged due to a suicide attempt are not elgible for organ transplants, yet this old a**hole can get as many as he wants. I could agree with a limit, perhaps I agree for different reasons than you....but yeah that is problematic.

Maybe the better question is, what's in it for the medical establishment?
And then, what if he's getting the transplants at a teaching hospital?

This person seems like he wants to live.

Why not let him live?

While we're at it, perhaps there should be an age limit for government officials...I mean if someone is too old to drive, should they really hold a high up important government office?

Like our attorney general for instance.

Someone has to pay for it.

The US Treasury projects a 27.7 billion dollar Medicare deficit.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/

We can try to pass the debt off to young people, might not work though.

Also, Obamacare mandates healthy people buy insurance to pay for old people who want to live forever.

Setting aside the matter of age:

>> When should we who do the paying just let people die?

When that is what they want.

>> Should we pay any amount, any price, to keep people alive?

If that is what they want and if we can provide whatever is needed for doing so.

>> Should we draw a line somewhere?

See the two just above.

However, does someone's desire to live obligate the remainder of us to try to make that happen? No, and neither are we obligated to facilitate death just because someone might want to die. But if we are not obligated to try to keep people alive when they cannot pay the costs on their own, then the real question here is about why we are being forced to do so...and that is because the government dare not begin just letting people die lest too many people stop paying taxes.

These make interesting reading,
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/TRSUM/index.html


And if you have time to read 272 pages,
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/TR/2016/index.html


The Monthly Treasury Statement (MTS) do too.
https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/fsrepor ... issues.htm

sounds an awful lot like that new movie, get out.....lol

like millennials/gen Zers? no thanks...if i have to, i'll fight tooth and nail to make sure it doesn't work.

making things more complicated and difficult is not my intent, but why pass off this massive debt to a generation that is growing up to be less wealthy than their parents, on average? i don't see a benefit outside of the youth itself...

anyway, IMO the decision should be up to them, as always. if we are able to provide, i see no reason to refuse them. but therein lies the crux of the matter!

an alternative of simply allowing people like him to die, when we pay as he can't, seems far uglier. not sure what other options there are.



well, driving and holding public office are very different....i'm for an age cap with it comes to tasks involving physical input and requiring high sensory awareness (like driving), but not so much for positions of decision making or judgement, because sometimes the mind remains quite sprightly while the senses deteriorate. being more than capable of making rational decisions backed by decades of experience, even if i wouldn't trust them to drive me to LA.

or sometimes both deteriorate. or neither.

i suppose there's also the factor of not keeping up with the times....

... but 'one size fits all' approaches tend to cause problems and not be fair to individuals who remain capable; and to be downright prejudiced, as in the "All Those People are like that" mindset.
I say that in part from having known pilots who were still able to fly safely in their 60s and 70s. Sure, not Mach 5 research aircraft, but definitely airliners and general aviation aircraft.

Okay, buried in the bazillion bookmarks in this box is this from 2014, http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/e ... story.html Well worth reading. Especially about the self-regulating mindset.

very much true, and i realized i neglected to add my usual note of "obviously there are countless exceptions", such as my paternal grandparents which remain quite lively.

don't some states require older drivers to retake tests to retain their driving licenses, or something similar? that may be better than the blanket "age cap".

did not mean to sound like an ass, still, i get irritated by similar prejudices thrown at younger people such as myself.

I know my state of Missouri requires more frequent renewal after age 70,
Here, Google found this,
State by State Look at Driving Rules for Older Drivers
September 19, 2012
http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/natio ... 213818.htm

What if they don't WANT to die?

I don't think debt should be passed down to later generations. That's ridiculous.

They should have tests for driving-license renewal after the age of 75 or so. Many people in their 70s remain quite vital these days.

It's sad, though, the quantity of elderly people who are merely EXISTING, rather than really LIVING. On ventilators or whatnot.

My DL says organ donor,so on the unfortunate event of an early demise my innards will be up for grabs.It seems like younger people should get priority,but I'd rather see someone get my liver than it just go to waste.If I remember right,they divide up the liver for several recipients since the liver can regenerate.
One of my dear friends that passed away was still driving at eighty and splitting his own wood.Cancer took him out,but until then, he was more active and mentally sharp than many half his age.

When matters like this topic are raised by well-intentioned individuals (I am sure ), I like replying with the simple but pivotal statement "you first."