3 ms·
At the moment, a large and increasing percentage of total medical expenditure goes on prolonging the time over which people are tortured to death. We need to sw
by rwallace 14y ago
At the moment, a large and increasing percentage of total medical expenditure goes on prolonging the time over which people are tortured to death. We need to switch resources away from such negative value expenditure towards research programs like SENS that are aimed at slowing or partly reversing the effects of aging, which would prolong healthspan, not just nominal lifespan.
Or put another way, we need to consider the classic story about the man who wished for eternal life but should also have remembered to wish for eternal youth.
- saalweachter 14y agoI think to some extent the problem is that it's very easy -- to a first approximation -- to keep the body running. Keep the blood flowing, keep it oxygenated, keep it clean. It may be expensive, but it's easy to work out. Quality of life is all in the nerves. Avoiding dementia, Alzheimer's, paralysis, blindness, deafness, ... It's much harder.
- unreal37 14y agoIts a tough moral problem. Does the government and private insurance stop paying for heart transplants and life-prolonging procedures after the age of 75? I wonder what percentage of medicare/insurance payments goes towards prolonging life into the 80s and 90s? I can't imagine being a doctor and having to make that decision, or break the news to a family that they're not allowed to save a life due to old age of the patient...
- gehar 14y agoAge cutoffs were not mentioned in parent post. It doesn't matter who pays, the question still exists. Where to spend finite resources?
- gehar 14y ago"QALY": Quality-Adjusted Life Year http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-adjusted_life_year http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-adjusted_life_year "Under certain methods, such as the EQ-5D, QALY can be negative number."