White House oncologist and Obamacare architect wants to die at 75 trends now
A world-renowned oncologist and one of the architects of Obamacare will refuse any medication in 10 years to achieve his ambitious goal of dying at 75 - including antibiotics, chemotherapy and other medicines.
Unlike many elites with ambitions of immortality, Dr Ezekiel Emanuel, 65, will act as if medical leaps made over the last 200 years never happened and make no efforts to cheat death.
The physician dedicated large parts of his career to saving the lives of America's most vulnerable, but believes old age can become a burden of society and loved ones.
Dr Emanuel, who served in both the Obama and Biden administrations, says there is also a lack of dignity when aging past 75.
Dr Ezekiel Emanuel (pictured), a former Obama Administration official, said he plans to swear off all medical treatment after age 75 so he can die while he is still healthy and vibrant
The doctor, who is currently in reportedly good health, first wrote about is goal in a morbid essay titled 'Why I hope to die at 75'.
Major advancements in medicine have allowed Americans to live significantly longer now than in previous decades.
The average America now lives over 77 years, growing nearly 20 years over the last century from 59 years in 1923.
Dr Emanuel notes that while people have more years of life now than before, the amount of years they are healthy has not increased much.
'There is a simple truth that many of us seem to resist: living too long is also a loss,' he penned for The Atlantic in 2014?
'It renders many of us, if not disabled, then faltering and declining, a state that may not be worse than death but is nonetheless deprived.
'It robs us of our creativity and ability to contribute to work, society, the world.'
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 40million Americans provided unpaid care to an elderly person in 2018 - the most recent available data.
Around half of them provide care to an elderly person - usually a family member or other person in the household - either every day or several times per week. In nearly 40 percent of cases, the person receiving the care is aged 85 and older.
Dr Emanuel continued that people whose health slowly degrades over time will be remembered for who they are at the end of their lives rather than in their prime.
The version of their lives that will remain in loved ones' minds will be someone who is feeble, needy and 'even pathetic' - not vibrant and full of personality.
The irony of his claims are that he is best known for his work with the Obama Administration when he served as chief of the Clinical Center's Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health.
He worked closely with the president to craft the Affordable Care Act - which proved to be one of the nation's largest expansions of public healthcare in 2010.
The expansion of Medicaid and slew of other changes to US health care that came alongside the law undoubtedly helped millions of elderly Americans extend their lives.
Despite his wish to die soon after the next decade, he does not support euthanasia - saying he thinks resources used for assisted suicide care could go towards end-of-life counseling.
Dr Emanuel does not want to die at age 75, but wants to go 'naturally' after that age - as he puts it.
Dr Emanuel said that elderly people who require a caretaker can prove to be a burden on their family and friends
If he develops cancer, for example, he will not seek treatment and instead just let the disease kill him.
