…. when before, I was just like, “well if it happens it happens, and I’ll make the best of it.” Unfortunately, with nursing homes around the country still locked down, everyone masked, with residents virtually imprisoned inside (not allowed to leave for anything but medical appointments) - I’m going to do everything I can to avoid it.
I was always afraid of landing up in LTC Land but now I will do just about anything to avoid it, short of outright suicide. I suspect the best way to avoid involuntary incarceration in LTCL is to avoid the Medical Industrial Complex altogether. My distrust for the medical profess was already high since I spent about 15 years of my working life as a pharmaceutical and medical analyst for several Wall Street firms back in the 1980s and 90s. Now, having closely watched the response to Covid, I am convinced that much of the medical system is so hopelessly corrupt and broken that it may be un-fixable. The medical system's addiction to over-testing and over-treatment, it's fondness for expensive, unproven intervention, it's reluctance to change course even in the face of new data (see Prasad's Ending Medical Reversals) have all played a role in the disaster of the last 2.5 years.
So, I've made a conscious choice to avoid all 'preventive care' and doctor visits. I take no medications beyond the occasional allergy meds in season. I'm trying to eat properly, exercise and stay strong. I also pray! This essay sums up much of my thinking on the subject: https://lithub.com/barbara-ehrenreich-why-im-giving-up-on-preventative-care/
Thank you for writing about your experiences. I appreciate your compassion and wisdom!
I really enjoyed that essay you linked, thanks for sharing. I also feel your sentiments for avoiding a medicalized life. I've made similar decisions for myself, although I am aware that I'm young and biased; I am open to the chance that my choices may change as I get older. However these words are something I'm trying to articulate better for those who haven't thought about preventive care with these perspectives.
Most probably, especially if you have the responsibility for children and/or older relatives, you'll accumulate enough involuntary medical disaster experiences that your instinctive caution will only deepen--unless you get very, very lucky!
Scott Alexander is one of the most blue-pilled people there is, but in 2013, he wrote this excellent article about the process of death and decay in institutions that warehouse the aged:
My grandmother is slowly fading away in a nursing home like that right now, after 8 years of care at home which left her daughter, who was taking care of her, exhausted and unable to continue.
I only hope I won't have to live through this, and make others live through it, when my time comes.
If nothing else,. one has earned the respect of those that come in their wake. That respect includes the freedom to make choices that aren't necessarily the safest nor most prudent in the eyes of their caretakers or progeny.
I often think that one should produce a binding document the conveys the weight of one's midlife will about how one expects to be kept "safe" while being allowed the dignity to continue to live, even if that means potentially dying sooner. More than the typical living will, this applies more as a philosophy that applies far before incapacitation.
The past couple of years makes it clear that what is important in your latter days in these facilities is subjugated to safety and mitigating the liability of the facility. Your risk tolerance, your acceptance of the consequences of your decisions as a senior, the ability to hold the hands of your loved ones, which may be all that matters at some point, cannot be taken for granted in these scenarios.
Like you, I will do my best to end my time living rather than dying.
I was always afraid of landing up in LTC Land but now I will do just about anything to avoid it, short of outright suicide. I suspect the best way to avoid involuntary incarceration in LTCL is to avoid the Medical Industrial Complex altogether. My distrust for the medical profess was already high since I spent about 15 years of my working life as a pharmaceutical and medical analyst for several Wall Street firms back in the 1980s and 90s. Now, having closely watched the response to Covid, I am convinced that much of the medical system is so hopelessly corrupt and broken that it may be un-fixable. The medical system's addiction to over-testing and over-treatment, it's fondness for expensive, unproven intervention, it's reluctance to change course even in the face of new data (see Prasad's Ending Medical Reversals) have all played a role in the disaster of the last 2.5 years.
So, I've made a conscious choice to avoid all 'preventive care' and doctor visits. I take no medications beyond the occasional allergy meds in season. I'm trying to eat properly, exercise and stay strong. I also pray! This essay sums up much of my thinking on the subject: https://lithub.com/barbara-ehrenreich-why-im-giving-up-on-preventative-care/
Thank you for writing about your experiences. I appreciate your compassion and wisdom!
I really enjoyed that essay you linked, thanks for sharing. I also feel your sentiments for avoiding a medicalized life. I've made similar decisions for myself, although I am aware that I'm young and biased; I am open to the chance that my choices may change as I get older. However these words are something I'm trying to articulate better for those who haven't thought about preventive care with these perspectives.
Most probably, especially if you have the responsibility for children and/or older relatives, you'll accumulate enough involuntary medical disaster experiences that your instinctive caution will only deepen--unless you get very, very lucky!
Scott Alexander is one of the most blue-pilled people there is, but in 2013, he wrote this excellent article about the process of death and decay in institutions that warehouse the aged:
https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/07/17/who-by-very-slow-decay/
My grandmother is slowly fading away in a nursing home like that right now, after 8 years of care at home which left her daughter, who was taking care of her, exhausted and unable to continue.
I only hope I won't have to live through this, and make others live through it, when my time comes.
Scott Alexander is a poet, thank you for sharing that
the recent 2.5 years only enhance my existing view of I do not trust nor want to be in a "nursing" home.
I am considering taking up dangerous extreme sports the minute I come down with anything that might cause me to end up there.
If nothing else,. one has earned the respect of those that come in their wake. That respect includes the freedom to make choices that aren't necessarily the safest nor most prudent in the eyes of their caretakers or progeny.
I often think that one should produce a binding document the conveys the weight of one's midlife will about how one expects to be kept "safe" while being allowed the dignity to continue to live, even if that means potentially dying sooner. More than the typical living will, this applies more as a philosophy that applies far before incapacitation.
The past couple of years makes it clear that what is important in your latter days in these facilities is subjugated to safety and mitigating the liability of the facility. Your risk tolerance, your acceptance of the consequences of your decisions as a senior, the ability to hold the hands of your loved ones, which may be all that matters at some point, cannot be taken for granted in these scenarios.
Like you, I will do my best to end my time living rather than dying.