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The Forum > Article Comments > Too many are living too long > Comments

Too many are living too long : Comments

By Brian Holden, published 28/5/2010

We all hope to remain vigorous into our 80s but if serious malfunctions occur then nature is saying it's time to leave.

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Cornflower,

Supposing my child had a serious illness. Supposing further there existed a drug that had a 50% chance of prolonging my child's life by one year.

Unfortunately the cost of one course of treatment with that drug was $10 billon – which is more than the entire budget of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). This is not a result of price gouging by a mean drug company. This reflects the actual cost of manufacturing this drug.

I would think it a bargain. If I had $10 billion I would willingly spend it on a 50% shot at giving my child an extra year of life.

But I don't have $10 billion. Would you seriously expect the Australian taxpayers to stump up the money?

Of course not. I would be told that was impossible.

On the other hand if the cost of treatment was $1 it becomes a no brainer.

So somewhere between $1 and $10 billion lies the maximum we would be prepared to spend per patient to give them a shot at an extra year of life. Unless healthcare reformers are prepared to discuss these sorts of numbers – it need not be the same for every class of patient – we shall get nowhere.

Resources are not infinite. Money devoted to very expensive treatments is not available for primary health care, the creation of jobs or better education.

Yes I agree that there are many built in inefficiencies. We could get more "bang for our healthcare buck" and that would alleviate the problems.

But, in the end, we have to decide what is cost effective and how much we are prepared to spend. Emotive arguments about "death camps" etc won't cut it.

Richie10 asks why I need the approval of society to kill myself.

If I start dementing then, absent positive euthanasia, I shall have to kill myself early on in the process.I cannot take the chance of losing my wits so rapidly that I lose the ability to form the intention.

The absence of positive euthanasia may thus end up depriving me of years of life.
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Sunday, 30 May 2010 9:50:05 AM
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C'est moi,

Yes ! That is called suicide, the right to take one's own life, and of course it should be legal. But the right of someone else to take your life, when you are incapable of doing so, or of knowing that it is actually happening - No !

So how is 'positive euthanasia' (stevenlmeyer) different from murder ? My advice, steven, would be to do it yourself, while you have the wits. It would be an expression of your personal autonomy, your last actually. Nobody else has that right over your life.

As to whether doctors or nurses can let someone slip away - a sort of passive euthanasia - by turning off the machines, that would really be a different kettle of fish. As long as there is no medication to deliberately shorten a life, or pillows over the head, etc., if there is genuinely nothing more that doctors can do, then yes, people should be allowed to slip away. But that certainly does not seem to be what many contributors to this thread are advocating as the limiting factor to their definition of euthanasia.

Suicide, yes - euthanasia, no.
Posted by Loudmouth, Sunday, 30 May 2010 10:26:20 AM
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My 85yo uncle just had open heart surgery after an otherwise long, healthy and productive but frugal life during which he paid health insurance with little claim.
Should all those years of contribution be denied when he needed to collect?
If so, what incentive to contribute to the collective welfare?
If not, what of those whose contributions fell short of their claims?

The world that Brian Holden is proposing is monstrous.
Posted by Proxy, Sunday, 30 May 2010 1:34:19 PM
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I think Brian's watched 'Logan's Run' one time too many.

This is exactly why, despite agreeing with voluntary euthenasia in principle, I have a lot of problems with enshrining it in law. If you work in aged care, you soon see too many families who'd just as soon bump Grandma off, because it's just too 'hard', impacts too much on their lifestyle, and is too much of a drain on their inheritance, to keep the selfish old bat alive for a few more years.
Posted by Clownfish, Sunday, 30 May 2010 1:38:41 PM
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This may be a newsflash for some people but the medical profession in this country is already rationing medical resources in our public hospitals and practising a form of euthanasia, and despite the peception that most people probably glean from watching too many American medical dramas those in a brain dead state or given no chance of ultimately surviving are not forced to be connected to life support systems. The next of kin are routinely given a choice in these matters.
Posted by snakeplishken, Sunday, 30 May 2010 2:07:52 PM
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Clownfish,

I'm sure that none of those unsavoury thoughts have ever entered anybody's head - that their support for the euthanasia of others is entirely altruistic ;)

Joe
Posted by Loudmouth, Sunday, 30 May 2010 2:08:28 PM
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