Why does the American oncologist want to live to 75? Why does he say he won't be cured if he gets sick at the age of 75?
Ezekiel Emanuel is no ordinary man. Head of "Clinical Bioethics" at the National Institute of Health. He also heads the "Medical Politics and Health Policy" department at the University of Pennsylvania. In other words, he is a scientist who deals with issues such as "medical ethics and death, what is the right life" almost every day and grapples with these difficult concepts.
Ezekiel Jonathan "Zeke" Emanuel (born September 6, 1957) is an American oncologist, bioethicist, and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He is the current Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy. Previously, Emanuel served as the Diane and Robert Levy University Professor at Penn. He holds a joint appointment at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Wharton School and was formerly an associate professor at the Harvard Medical School until 1998 when he joined the National Institutes of Health.
In 2014, he wrote an article titled "WHY I HOPE TO DIE AT 75" in The Atlantic Magazine and dropped a bomb in the middle of all the discussions. Ezekiel Emanuel is head of the "Clinical Bioethics" division at the National Institute of Health and also heads the "Medical Politics and Health Policy" division at the University of Pennsylvania. Therefore, it is necessary to reflect and understand why such a man chooses to die at the age of 75. Moreover, at the time of writing that article, Ezekiel Emanuel did not have any fatal diseases and was in very good health. Although he was 60 years old that day, he was an extremely fit man, doing sports and was quite happy. So he had every reason to want to live longer. But despite this, he stands behind the 75-year-old thesis until the end.
Ezekiel clearly says that he will not commit suicide when he turns 75. Only when he was approaching that age, he would stop all kinds of check-up examinations that could prevent him from getting sick in the future. For example, if he gets cancer at the age of 73, he will refuse to take therapeutic drugs. If he got sick, he would only take drugs that would reduce his pain and allow him to die comfortably.
At that time, he would not go to the doctor, nor would he be hospitalized for diagnosis and treatment. In other words, the scientist does not want to take any action that could delay his death as he approaches the age of 75. By quoting all science books and using social statistics as the reason for this, he says that it is not possible for a person not to fall into a physical, mental and spiritual collapse when approaching the age of 75. The author thinks that it is not right to make this process of collapse medically long.
"Even if you are not sick, you will see that your old physical strength is completely gone, even if you do not have dementia, your mind does not work as well as it used to, and you are no longer a full-size person contributing to society," says the scientist.
His hope is to die at the age of 75, as he thinks that trying to prolong life in this way will be a great burden to both the individual, his close environment, relationships and society. While saying this, he does it with great joy.
For detailed reading:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/10/why-i-hope-to-die-at-75/379329/