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What is a good age to die?

On your.100th birthday while snorting coke off a naked hooker.
 
Sweden said:
Significant physical decline comes early. But does not matter much if one can do ordinary household chores and, most importantly, look after oneself. Mental decline is hard to measure. AT 89 - in ten days time - my memory is not what it was but only, so far, for things like place nam es that do not really matter. Estimates of what significant means will vary.

I am still of some use in helping my wife so life still has a purpose. If she was not here today would be a good time to die for me.
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Nice, thoughtful post.

My father turned 90 back in March. My mother passed away at 86 a year and a half ago. He still drives, but only to the places he knows how to get to and get home from, even though he has navigation in his Infinity. He has his routine- has morning coffee, smokes a few cigarettes throughout the day and evening, reads the paper, and watches Royals games and every crime show on television. He keeps up on the laundry. His short term memory is very poor, and his long term memory is hazy when it comes to remembering people. He writes himself notes and he’s lost without his calendar. He does remember most personal events like when he was growing up, when he served in the Navy, etc. He was always a great story teller.

He’ll never leave his townhouse. Take him out somewhere else, and he gets real confused. My brother lives with him, but it’s becoming more difficult. Dad is frail and has taken a few falls. But he can manage himself in his own place. Outside of aches and pains, no real physical issues. His blood pressure has always been normal.

He’s a tough old guy, and it’s hard watching him decline like this. But when I call him, he’s still cheerful on the phone. I’m heading to Kansas City to spend a couple of days with him.

My sisters, brother, and I figure he’ll go when he’s ready. It still may be a few years away. Hopefully, peacefully in his sleep.
 
Cordelier said:
What if it meant you kept aging, but just never died? I'm thinking life gets pretty grim by the time you hit 300 and you're looking like Yoda with leprosy.

Plus, what do you figure it's going to take to get one of your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids to change your diaper?
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Life would get grim for the vast majority of people by time they hit 100.
 
Threegoofs said:
Zeke Emannuel wrote a really good piece on this about ten years ago.

WHY I HOPE TO DIE AT 75​


And he stands by it ten years later as he is now in his late 60s. I agree with this on the whole, and think 80 is probably about ideal, judging from the average quality of life I’ve seen of people in their 70sand 80s.
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I wonder if he'll still stand by that when he's 74?
 
Aristaeus said:
Life would get grim for the vast majority of people by time they hit 100.
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100 is doable, though... I've heard it estimated by researchers that the human body is meant to last 160 years at the absolute maximum, so I figured doubling that gets you in some pretty grim conditions.
 
Chomsky said:
I don't know what the exact day is, but I can assure you when mine comes - I'm going to be screaming,

"No! One more!"
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You must have at some point stumbled on the secret to life. :) As to myself my mood mirrors to a t that of the Ecclesistic in the Bible.
 
Grand Mal said:
I want to die at ninety being shot by a jealous husband while bailing out of a second-story bedroom window.
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Your wish will not be granted. The jealous husband will miss, and the second story will turn out to be actually ground level on the bedroom side of house.
 
Grogu said:
Nice, thoughtful post.

My father turned 90 back in March. My mother passed away at 86 a year and a half ago. He still drives, but only to the places he knows how to get to and get home from, even though he has navigation in his Infinity. He has his routine- has morning coffee, smokes a few cigarettes throughout the day and evening, reads the paper, and watches Royals games and every crime show on television. He keeps up on the laundry. His short term memory is very poor, and his long term memory is hazy when it comes to remembering people. He writes himself notes and he’s lost without his calendar. He does remember most personal events like when he was growing up, when he served in the Navy, etc. He was always a great story teller.

He’ll never leave his townhouse. Take him out somewhere else, and he gets real confused. My brother lives with him, but it’s becoming more difficult. Dad is frail and has taken a few falls. But he can manage himself in his own place. Outside of aches and pains, no real physical issues. His blood pressure has always been normal.

He’s a tough old guy, and it’s hard watching him decline like this. But when I call him, he’s still cheerful on the phone. I’m heading to Kansas City to spend a couple of days with him.

My sisters, brother, and I figure he’ll go when he’s ready. It still may be a few years away. Hopefully, peacefully in his sleep.
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Likewise - nice post. It's good that your father has family nearby. Our two sons and there children are in the US and Canada.
 
Before I become a burden to my son.

Having cared for my own parents and now my in laws - I don’t ever want my son to have to deal with it or be burdened by having to care for me.
 
Ed: "That's no way for a man to die."
Frank: "Yeah, you're right Ed. A parachute not opening, that's a way to die. Getting caught in the gears of a combine. Having your nuts bit off by a laplander, that's the way I want to go."
--- The Naked Gun
 
Threegoofs said:
Zeke Emannuel wrote a really good piece on this about ten years ago.

WHY I HOPE TO DIE AT 75​


And he stands by it ten years later as he is now in his late 60s. I agree with this on the whole, and think 80 is probably about ideal, judging from the average quality of life I’ve seen of people in their 70sand 80s.
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Excellent article, well worth the read with some useful statistics persuading me that aiming for 60 might be better than 50 :unsure:

"At 75 and beyond, I will need a good reason to even visit the doctor and take any medical test or treatment, no matter how routine and painless. And that good reason is not “It will prolong your life.” I will stop getting any regular preventive tests, screenings, or interventions. I will accept only palliative—not curative—treatments if I am suffering pain or other disability.​
​
"This means colonoscopies and other cancer-screening tests are out—and before 75. If I were diagnosed with cancer now, at 57, I would probably be treated, unless the prognosis was very poor. But 65 will be my last colonoscopy. No screening for prostate cancer at any age. (When a urologist gave me a PSA test even after I said I wasn’t interested and called me with the results, I hung up before he could tell me. He ordered the test for himself, I told him, not for me.) After 75, if I develop cancer, I will refuse treatment. Similarly, no cardiac stress test. No pacemaker and certainly no implantable defibrillator. No heart-valve replacement or bypass surgery. If I develop emphysema or some similar disease that involves frequent exacerbations that would, normally, land me in the hospital, I will accept treatment to ameliorate the discomfort caused by the feeling of suffocation, but will refuse to be hauled off.​
​
"What about simple stuff? Flu shots are out. Certainly if there were to be a flu pandemic, a younger person who has yet to live a complete life ought to get the vaccine or any antiviral drugs. A big challenge is antibiotics for pneumonia or skin and urinary infections. Antibiotics are cheap and largely effective in curing infections. It is really hard for us to say no. Indeed, even people who are sure they don’t want life-extending treatments find it hard to refuse antibiotics. But, as Osler reminds us, unlike the decays associated with chronic conditions, death from these infections is quick and relatively painless. So, no to antibiotics."​

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BirdinHand said:
Before I become a burden to my son.

Having cared for my own parents and now my in laws - I don’t ever want my son to have to deal with it or be burdened by having to care for me.
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I've seen enough of my mother caring for her parents to hope that she feels the same way :LOL: Terrible thing to say out loud, and if it comes to it I'll probably end up doing the right thing, but I imagine not many people particularly want to care for their elders. Retirement homes wouldn't be so numerous if they did.
 
BirdinHand said:
Before I become a burden to my son.

Having cared for my own parents and now my in laws - I don’t ever want my son to have to deal with it or be burdened by having to care for me.
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I'm with you on that. If I become a burden, it's time to call it quits.
 
Real blank said:
It's a bit morbid, but is there an ideal age to die ?
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Depends on the quality of life, I guess?

I've seen a 100 year old man still marching at the vets parade! Attending family get-togethers.
A couple of days before he died (107 years old)....................he even asked me to make him a favorite dish.
 
Real blank said:
It's a bit morbid, but is there an ideal age to die ?
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Irrelevant question, because we have so little control over when we die it is far more important to focus on how we live. Philosophically a nice long healthy vibrant life is the answer but there are no guarantees that is the outcome for all.

I'd even go so far as to say "beliefs and skepticism" have nothing to do with it, whatever "grand plan" you subscribe to religiously speaking will not answer why an 8 year old dies of cancer and some crime lord somewhere lives into their 80s. But ultimately belief does not answer the question either on what is a good age to die.

So, I am back to a focus on how we live for whatever time we get.
 
There is no good age to die. For some death may be a relief. For others an interruption.
 
Gordy327 said:
If it's a relief, then that must be a good age to die.
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And at what age might that be? 10? 20? . . . 99?

Life threatening afflictions happen at any age. I hope to be among those who see it as an interruption, "I still got things to do." But current health and hospitalizations make me fully aware I could at the flip of a switch find myself among those feeling relief. Your mileage may vary.
 
Along Came Jones said:
And at what age might that be? 10? 20? . . . 99?
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Whichever age brings relief.
Along Came Jones said:
Life threatening afflictions happen at any age. I hope to be among those who see it as an interruption, "I still got things to do." But current health and hospitalizations make me fully aware I could at the flip of a switch find myself among those feeling relief. Your mileage may vary.
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Everyone should have the choice to determine that for themselves.
 
Mithrae said:
Will your deteriorating mental faculties know when to make that call?
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That’s the tricky part. Chance are that most of us wouldn’t be able to make the decision at just the right time. We probably would have to pull the plug at a time when we might have diminishing returns rather than knowing no good days were left for certain.
 
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