It's worth reading this: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/zeke-emanuel-why-i-want-to-die-at-75-death-5fwmr99h5
He isn't suggesting that all 75 year olds should not be allowed to have treatment as far as I can see. He's saying that it is HIS choice for himself.
It makes a lot of sense to me.
I didn't meet my ex-husband's grandmother until after she had had a major stroke. Apparently she had been the life and soul of everything, outspoken with her opinions, a real character.
When I met her she couldn't speak and was confined to bed in a care home/hospital. She went on living like this for nearly twenty years, gradually becoming unable to recognise her family, completely bedbound and dependent. Every time she stopped eating (which I believe is common a little while before death), she was intravenously fed and hydrated; this happened many times, and also had other 'life-saving' medication.
This poor lady was trapped in her body, without being able to say how she felt, what she wanted, even to express her love for her family. This was a long time ago; late 70s - 80s, but it horrifies me still.
On the other hand, my mother is 100, still reasonably fit, compos mentis apart from her short term memory, and still enjoying life.
I won't have that length of healthy life, and I would make a choice similar to the oncologist's, probably not based on age, but on when I start to feel I don't want to live.
