Subnostr

I'm dealing with more and more old people who's children keep extending their life and they're totally sick of it.

Modern medicine has taken "Grandma had a heart attack at 85 and died" to "Grandma had a heart attack at 85, cycled in-and-out of the hospital for 3 years, had dialysis and an organ transplant, went deaf, was operated upon 4 times, was flown to a different state for a 5th operation, had a blood transfusion, and then died".

It's getting to the point, where I'm starting to wonder if I should even wish them well, when they're ill, as they're desperately hoping to meet their Maker.

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M0053 1y ago

I believe first it is critical to honor their wishes. And to do that you must know them (the person and the wish). And you should be as clear as possible before they are no longer able to communicate well.

Just walked through this with my now passed mother.

I think most of us do not want life at all costs. But it important to me to honor the will of my elders. I will not choose for them until i have to, and then as their truted proxy as much as i can.

Laeserin 1y ago

I generally agree to this, but as a Christian, I'm starting to wonder at what point this is behavior that I should no longer support.

There's a reason why so many old people are killing themselves, after all. It's become increasingly difficult to die of natural causes because of the medical interventions.

And at what point have you exchanged so many of your parts and fluids, that you aren't the same person, anymore, but rather a sort of biological robot?

You know... when brain transplant?

M0053 1y ago

I also work in healthcare. There are legal documentd that can seriously help here as well. Living will, DNR, advance directive, and medical POA for example.

As a fellow Christian i also find this topic important. All heathcare, but especially end of life care is aiming limited resouces (all the docs, nurses, meds, proceedures, beds etc) at an infinate problem... death.

At some point we MUST cease trying to preserve life at all costs. But technology continues to extend that ultimate limit.

"Just because we can" is a terrible and sometimes hellish driver.

Laeserin 1y ago

Yeah. I'm the sextant, so I serve at a lot of funerals and speak regularly to a lot of senior citizens, so I'm also kind of on "the front lines", on this topic.

I'm personally relieved that the older people in my own family are all Catholic and "societally backward" enough that they set a good example for us on "unreasonable healthcare" decisions.

Other families, it turns into a circus, sometimes.

Laeserin 1y ago

Another thing, that my husband and I escaped by marrying unusually young, is that more and more young people are having to skip forming their own families because of eldercare.

Eldercare used to be months of palliative care or dealing with someone with a chronic illness for years, and it was an honor. But it can now mean decades of caring full-time for someone who is both past the Biblical 70 _and_ near death. People can now be almost-dead indefinitely.

And, since families are small, this can lead to that person having no grandchildren. How is this in keeping with Christ's message of eternal salvation? Are we prolonging life because we love life, or is this just a tangential aspect of the Culture of Death?

A Culture Against Natural Death?

A Culture That Rejects Death And Prevents New Life?

A gerontocracy, but everyone is trying to be nice?

Is this fiat? This seems like something bizarre and perverse that a society can only afford, on this grand scale, with excessive credit and run-away money printing.

nami 1y ago

This is a difficult topic

Laeserin 1y ago

Not really. People get old, they get worn out or sick, and then they die. And those are the lucky ones that don't fall off a ladder and break their neck in their 30s.

People are just increasingly lacking in stoicism about natural death, at the same time, as they've made an Olympic sport out of abortion, euthanasia, and frankensteinian methods for reproduction.

They want to decide who lives and who dies, so that they can be gods.

Laeserin 1y ago

I do think it's emblematic of the problem that my writing about this is making everyone uncomfortable, tho.

I can feel everyone like