Doctor Explains Why Death at 75 is Right for Him - East Idaho News

Doctor Explains Why Death at 75 is Right for Him

  Published at

092114 dremanuel?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1411318424450ABC News(NEW YORK) — Citing the increased chance of Alzheimer’s disease among other quality of life factors, one doctor says he wants to die at 75.

Though he makes it clear he does not believe in euthanasia, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, director of the Clinical Bioethics Department at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, raised some eyebrows when The Atlantic published an article written by him discussing the issue.

“I look at the data on disability, I look at the data on Alzheimer’s disease, I look at the data on loss of creativity. And 75 seems to be the right moment where the chance of disability, physical disability is low, you’re still not in the high Alzheimer’s risk of 30% or 50% and creativity has sort of come to an end,” Emanuel, who also serves as Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, told ABC’s Dr. Richard Besser during an interview for This Week.

“I coined this term called ‘American immortals,’ people want to do everything crazily to live as long as possible. Take these protein concoctions, change their diet, exercise like mad, that’s trying to put it off, that’s trying to say I am going to live as long as possible,” he said.

“I am trying to say alright you’re going to live in this amount of time. What are you going to do in that amount of time that is meaningful to you, meaningful to your family, meaningful to your community? That’s what I want people to think about,” Emanuel added.



Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio

SUBMIT A CORRECTION