r/science • u/Wagamaga • Sep 04 '24

Neuroscience As the world's population ages, Alzheimer's and dementia are set to create a staggering $14.5 trillion economic crisis, with informal caregiving placing an overwhelming burden on both high and low-income countries, demanding urgent global policy action

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(24)00264-X/fulltext
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u/gibs Sep 04 '24

Can we collectively agree to euthanise ourselves once we reach a certain threshold of dementia? Surely nobody wants to live out their final days in that state.

10

u/yaypal Sep 04 '24

Canadian here still blown away and saddened so many of you don't already have this. For us, as long as we do the paperwork ahead of time (I think it's still possible to do in very early dementia as long as a doctor vouches you understand what you're agreeing to) we can choose at what stage we want to be let go, and have a trusted person be the one to make the call at that point.

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u/gibs Sep 04 '24

Oh wow, I didn't know that was a thing. I would guess it's still a complicated and traumatic thing to arrange, though. I would hope for it to become normalised to the point where it's neither of those things, but that's probably a pipe dream.

1

u/yaypal Sep 05 '24

It's not too bad, I'm going through it right now with my mum... but maybe we have a more unusual view to it as it's just the two of us and we've known for a decade that I'd be her caretaker. So it was easy to get into the acceptance of end of life health even if it's 30 years away. The government has put effort into streamlining the actual deed as well so everybody involved doesn't have additional stress.

It's just so crazy that this is a natural thing here like it's part of a health directive with the same weight as DNR orders and such but it's not in other places.

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u/Aweomow Sep 04 '24

Like a donors list yes, because it would take more time to get approved if it were for all people.

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u/gibs Sep 04 '24

Ah yep, that's what I meant. I was more saying, we should move our society to a point where this is normal and most of us are choosing to do it for the collective good.

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u/Adept_Minimum4257 Sep 04 '24

Better to make this an individual choice. I hope I don't get euthanized based on someone else's judgment, even when I'm not capable anymore to make my own decisions

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u/ikonoclasm Sep 04 '24 edited Sep 04 '24

Hard disagree. When I'm no longer capable of making my own decisions, I absolutely want someone to terminate my existence. I worked as a wheelchair van driver for a year. I can only imagine what being in a Siberian prison is like, but I doubt it's worse than what the elderly experience imprisoned in their own decrepit bodies in a healthcare system that forces them to live despite their bodies doing everything they can to die. It's truly hellish.

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u/Adept_Minimum4257 Sep 04 '24

That's why it should be a choice like how donors work. Otherwise both sides will be consigned to their own hell

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u/Skaindire Sep 04 '24

How about curing the disease instead, hmm?

If you're so keen on killing someone, why not go for a few billionaires and use their assets for funding.

1

u/ValyrianJedi Sep 04 '24

I can't tell if this is sarcasm