I agree with the sentiment in theory but we never know what we'll want or what we'll do until we're there. We have an assisted suicide law in Oregon which we still have it in spite of repeated efforts by the right to get rid of it. Interestingly, many of the people who go through the process and get the medications to end their life, don't actually use it (about 30%). It appears we often cling to life but it's comforting to think we have options.

I want the options if I cannot end my own life. And by "want the options," I mean to have a willing person help me end my life if I'm suffering, can't do it myself, and choose to end it.

I think Ezekiel was a presumptuous ass to make the assumption that 75 was a good-to-go age. I talk with an epidemiologist about reading studies, skepticism, etc., and one of the things he's always emphasized is how different people can be. Sure, we're the same on many levels. If you're reading here, you have a liver. But whether your liver will react well to the medication most people's livers do, well, that's a different story.

I found this out firsthand when the anesthesia for an endoscopy knocked out my memory and cognitive ability to an extent for about three weeks. I was terrified. This happens to almost no one. The epidemiologist pointed out that studies are done looking to see that, say, 98 percent of the people do okay on this drug. Well, if you're the one or two percent who gets fucked by it, that's a problem.

But we are optimistically biased and we tend to believe that we will come out okay, and this allows us to shrug off risks we maybe should not.

get the impression he's trying to level-set expectations?

"well, you lived to be 75, what're you complaining about?"

Dirty little secret? A LOT of money is spent on healthcare for the elderly, and if you were one of them bio-ethics guys, it might seem like a waste. Kinda like replacing the engine in a rusted out car.

But people are not cars, and you simply don't know when the time is up.

This puts big gov't types in a bind, 'cuz they wish to control who gets healthcare, and WHEN. Yet, they are savvy enough to realize that you can't afford to fix everyone's car, nor their achin' knees.

People who think that everybody should take care of themselves are likewise delusional, thinking that any insurance or whatever you have paid into in your life will cover expensive operations later.

Insurance is a risk-bet, and when you get into the golden years, an increasingly poor one.

But how do you tell grandma that getting her knee replaced at 87 is a waste of money?

Aye, there's the rub.

And this is where that Expectations thing comes into play.

If all your life, you've worked a scrimped for everything... if you run out of money at the end, you are likely to say: "well, can't be helped." You realize well that you shouldn't take out a loan to get something fixed, when there is no telling if the rest of the body will last.

There are a lot of Dr's now who might say, 'you're not healthy enough to undergo a procedure like that...' and that likely ends the discussion.

OTOH, if you've had government boyfriend paying for everything all your life, you may well EXPECT that it will continue, and you don't CARE that fixing something is iffy, because "hey, it might totally work!"

There is no downside from your perspective.

People like that will be in for a rude awakening when government boyfriend allows them to starve to death rather than do anything to fix it. See: Liverpool Care Pathway http://www.seniorsatrisk.org/2012/06/top-doctors-claim-130000-elderly-patients-killed-prematurely-every-year-elderly-woman-starved-to-death-in-hospital/

'course they won't know, because they will be drugged into a haze.

HellIfIKnow what the answer is... choice is good, but there are many [including loved ones] who are so afraid of death, the will try to resuscitate the dead, rather than letting go. But if I'm a sprightly old centenarian, I don't exactly want to be taken out behind the barn and shot, either.

Every generation has new expectations of what may happen to them.
But there is no escaping this: if you do not pay, you do not get to say how or when you will be treated.

I agree with SwissArmyD and Radwaste, above.

It's baffling to me how anyone can expect to have more money spent on their medical care during the last six to ten years of their life than they ever earned during their entire lifetime.

That said, it's only been possible during the last few decades because of skyrocketing government debt. By the time I get old, this will all be a moot point.