FARK.com: (7168640) Survey finds death is the greatest fear of only 7% of seniors; living in pain and dependence is #1 for 64%

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		Survey finds death is the greatest fear of only 7% of seniors; living in pain and dependence is #1 for 64% (usatoday.com)		164
		More: Interesting, health advocacy

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2824 clicks; posted to Main » on 18 Jun 2012 at 1:05 PM | Favorite | share:

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BarkingUnicorn		2012-06-18 12:22:38 PM

These numbers seem to support the case for legalizing assisted suicide.

Wangiss		2012-06-18 12:47:35 PM

Yes, indeed. I keep seeing these leading-up-to-euthanasia headlines.

"You'd prefer death over..."
"You don't need mammograms."
"Don't put any extra effort into preventing prostate cancer."
"Every medication is ineffectual after 60."

Good night.

Langdon Alger		2012-06-18 01:07:26 PM

43% don't know who they are or where they're at

rudemix		2012-06-18 01:07:39 PM

64%? That's so strange. Who wouldn't want to sit around far into ueslessness needing assistance in every aspect of your life and feeling miserable, say compared to choosing your own option when the time is right?

Andulamb		2012-06-18 01:08:07 PM

Living in dependence, or living in Depends?

Somebody Else		2012-06-18 01:09:23 PM

Woody Allen said, "I'm not afraid of death. I just don't want to be there when it happens."

Rip Dashrock		2012-06-18 01:10:00 PM

My senior healthcare plan is underwritten by Remington.

Hack Patooey		2012-06-18 01:10:04 PM

My dad, 83, is sliding fast down the Alzheimer's slope, and mom, 82, is having more and more trouble taking care of him. Dad has enough of his facilities left and *knows* he should be in an assisted living facility, but is having trouble accepting it, so it's not an option beyond discussion right now. :/

bwilson27		2012-06-18 01:10:45 PM

And 100% fear Fartbongo worst.

publikenemy		2012-06-18 01:11:17 PM

hahahahahah joke on mofos...you will all be old, as will I. We'll see how different you feel about dying when you are old.

MAYORBOB		2012-06-18 01:11:47 PM

In before all the whiny-assed Gen Xers hoping that Boomers' deaths are as painful as possible.

madgonad		2012-06-18 01:13:11 PM

Seniors?!?!?

Fark, I'm 40 and that is my greatest fear. To be stuck, in pain, and a horrible drag on my family. I would rather my family get to keep the memories of the person I am and not be exposed to the bitter person I am likely to become if I was in this position. I would be amazed to find someone favor the opposite on this board.

/most disabilities (paralysis, blindness, deafness...) are not pain+dependent

Dr. Whoof		2012-06-18 01:14:12 PM

It's not what kills you that you should fear...it's what you can live through.

Huck And Molly Ziegler		2012-06-18 01:14:36 PM

If Republicans take the wheel for the next 4-8-12 years, you can be assured that's the cliff we're driving over, sanctioned by the state.

"Yeah, gee, sorry about the bad room and incompetent nurses, granny, but you should've used the 'old girl network' while you were in the prime of life 50 years ago to get a good stable job where you could afford to buy long-term care insurance."

Carn		2012-06-18 01:15:11 PM

When I get old, I hope to be able to pick my time. If I happen to be stricken with Alzheimer's or a similar illness, I hope a loved one puts me down.

The sound of one hand clapping		2012-06-18 01:16:21 PM

My mum is getting closer to near total dependence by the day and I know that her greatest fear is living in total pain and dependence. She's already close to her limit but fortunately has some degree of mobility and relief (though it's getting less and less).

And even though I'm quite young I can already say that I too fear this more than anything else. I don't fear much and although I wouldn't want to die, I'd rather that than the almost endless suffering I see many endure.

cptrios		2012-06-18 01:17:44 PM

Literally every over-60 person I know, including my parents, seems to be firmly in the "we'll be taking our own way out as soon as the word 'care' comes into play, thank you very much" camp. I'm sure a lot of tunes will be changed when the time comes, but it's a definite generational opinion shift.

TheWhoppah		2012-06-18 01:17:57 PM

We have a cure for pain.
4.bp.blogspot.com

Marisyana		2012-06-18 01:18:14 PM

Hack Patooey: My dad, 83, is sliding fast down the Alzheimer's slope, and mom, 82, is having more and more trouble taking care of him. Dad has enough of his facilities left and *knows* he should be in an assisted living facility, but is having trouble accepting it, so it's not an option beyond discussion right now. :/

Ask him if he'd rather be in assisted living or in a nursing home. My 78-year-old dad developed dementia and was in the same situation. We found him a really good assisted living place that he could afford about a year and a half ago, but he wouldn't go. A couple of months ago the neighbor who took him grocery shopping came to get him and found him completely out of it. When the paramedics came he pulled a knife on them and told them to get the fark out of his house, but they basically said 'whatever," got the knife away and got him to the hospital. He was found mentally incompetent, and under Florida law a nursing home had to take him. Looking through his papers one of my sisters found a loaded gun (he had never owned one previously). My brother and I think he was trying to work up the nerve to kill himself. Under the current circumstances I think that might have been best. I'd shoot myself too if I had to go to a nursing home.

lucksi		2012-06-18 01:19:38 PM

I hear that the old people marched on Washington and demanded a cure for pancakes.

/When I' reaching that age and notice it I will take a trip to Switzerland
//If you know what I mean

BigEd		2012-06-18 01:20:08 PM

Dr. Whoof: It's not what kills you that you should fear...it's what you can live through.

So true... I'll always remember one particular DI I had in US Army basic training who once told us not to fear dying, ever... He said... "f you're dead, you 'aint gonna know about it anyway, just be scared of the things that you might survive."

TheWhoppah		2012-06-18 01:24:00 PM

Why don't we use an overdose of herion for euthanasia and lethal injections? This seems like a nice way to die. Give them a regular dose to get them feeling no pain then hit them with an overdose. Cheap and effective.

/not as cheap as a noose

PainfulItching		2012-06-18 01:24:12 PM

cptrios: Literally every over-60 person I know, including my parents, seems to be firmly in the "we'll be taking our own way out as soon as the word 'care' comes into play, thank you very much" camp. I'm sure a lot of tunes will be changed when the time comes, but it's a definite generational opinion shift.

THIS
I refuse to be in any kind of vegetative/unable to communicate/painful, lingering death. Seen it too many times. 44 now, thought this way since I was 16 and had to deal with a spinal cord injury to a friend. I don't forsee that changing.

Living will, Power of attorney to a trusted sibling/friend who knows exactly what you want. Make it legal and the doctors will thank you,

Nurglitch		2012-06-18 01:24:42 PM

Death is not a part of life.

http://www.pitt.edu/~kis23/EPICURUS-LUCRETIUS.pdf

AUAIOMRN		2012-06-18 01:24:43 PM

Andulamb: Living in dependence, or living in Depends?

"living in pain and Depends-ants" maybe?

I mean I wouldn't want a bunch of ants crawling around inside my diapers.

cherryl taggart		2012-06-18 01:28:03 PM

My maternal grandmother and uncle both died following battles with strokes and the lingering effects, so my mother was 'glad' when she was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. She never smoked, and only lingered 6 months. She was terrified that she might last 5 or more years like her relatives had.

I was told to not make long term plans over 20 years ago, have DNR on all my records, and still worry that I might have a stroke and linger.

PainfulItching		2012-06-18 01:29:51 PM

TheWhoppah: Why don't we use an overdose of herion for euthanasia and lethal injections? This seems like a nice way to die. Give them a regular dose to get them feeling no pain then hit them with an overdose. Cheap and effective.

/not as cheap as a noose

Would mean legalizing it in some form. MJ is one thing. Smack is another.

TabASlotB		2012-06-18 01:30:14 PM

I imagine robots were high on the list...

www.scarybot.com

cantsleep		2012-06-18 01:31:30 PM

Huck And Molly Ziegler: If Republicans take the wheel for the next 4-8-12 years, you can be assured that's the cliff we're driving over, sanctioned by the state.

"Yeah, gee, sorry about the bad room and incompetent nurses, granny, but you should've used the 'old girl network' while you were in the prime of life 50 years ago to get a good stable job where you could afford to buy long-term care insurance."

Please take that crap to the politics tab. It's getting to the point that someone brings politics into every damn thread on Fark these days.

IkonOlator		2012-06-18 01:32:13 PM

Will you still need me,
Will you still feed me,
When I'm 64 (percent)?

/Bang, bang

SlowTimedRapid		2012-06-18 01:34:55 PM

Ambulands: Living in dependence, or living in Depends?

This, plus a "#1" joke.

Tom_Slick		2012-06-18 01:35:38 PM

My grandmother is 98, and still lives alone, she is very afraid in the next year or 2 she will not be able to care for herself anymore, she has watched as my Uncle, her son in law, has slipped into dementia and gone to a nursing home, outlived her husband by 40 years, and her greatest fear is not being able to make her own coffee in the morning. I get this.

austin_millbarge		2012-06-18 01:36:19 PM

Robots. Came here for robots.

/leaves satisfied

cryinoutloud		2012-06-18 01:36:38 PM

My mother died last Christmas for precisely this reason. She had a terror of becoming incapacitated and dependent on others. After major heart surgery years ago, 2 rounds of breast cancer, and the usual aches and pains of old age, when she had another heart attack right before her 80th birthday, she just refused to go to the hospital. It wasn't her heart, she said. Her heart was fine.

I guess that's how she wanted it. She died peacefully on the couch at my sister's.

Bf+		2012-06-18 01:37:09 PM

but death panels!

wraithmare		2012-06-18 01:37:30 PM

Mom has early-onset Alzheimer's. I'm not really keen on the coming discussions during the holidays.

/Suggested the article on why caffeine might help Alzheimer's.
//Dad said "Great, she'll be forgetful and wired!" Mom LOL'd.

Neeps		2012-06-18 01:38:49 PM

I'm not a senior and that's my greatest fear.

I hope they legalize euthanasia, because if I start that horrible, lingering decline I'm outta here, and I'd rather not have to do it myself.
If they don't, I'll probably follow the example of Socrates and drink some hemlock tea.

Optimus Primate		2012-06-18 01:39:56 PM

I will go swiftly if at any point I become a disabled burden to those around me. If my 'quality of life' consists of drooling in a corner, swaddled in a leaking diaper in an old folks home - it's done. I will end it before I hit that stage.

It's really not a big dealio...I have had a great life, and will continue to do so. I see no desire to hang on to this world with a terrified deathgrip as I rot away into 100% non-functionality. I have already made my peace with my beliefs in the afterlife and feel a whole new adventure will begin there.

I fear the prison of a crippled, expressionless body more than anything pretty much. And it's not really "fear"...it's just that I will not put up with that, or force my loved ones to do so. I'll move on to the next phase, whatever it will be, once things are effectively over here.

MoronLessOff		2012-06-18 01:40:03 PM

I've decided a while ago that I'm not afraid of dying. Like others have pointed out, it's the way you go that could be scary.

Wangiss		2012-06-18 01:40:33 PM

Neeps: I'm not a senior and that's my greatest fear.

I hope they legalize euthanasia, because if I start that horrible, lingering decline I'm outta here, and I'd rather not have to do it myself.
If they don't, I'll probably follow the example of Socrates and drink some hemlock tea.

Romance is painful.

Richard Flaccid		2012-06-18 01:40:47 PM

So 7% of those surveyed are ................. forget it, i'm not going there.

JackieRabbit		2012-06-18 01:41:01 PM

madgonad: Seniors?!?!?

Fark, I'm 40 and that is my greatest fear. To be stuck, in pain, and a horrible drag on my family. I would rather my family get to keep the memories of the person I am and not be exposed to the bitter person I am likely to become if I was in this position. I would be amazed to find someone favor the opposite on this board.

/most disabilities (paralysis, blindness, deafness...) are not pain+dependent

I'm about to turn 55 and I have lived with near-constant pain since I was 18. You do get used to it. Growing older isn't bad at all. In fact, so far it is quite pleasant. I don't care about most of the things I thought was essential when I was younger (they weren't essential after all) But I don't try to explain this to younger people. They just cannot understand, nor are they supposed to. Learning this is a part of being alive and it naturally comes in its own time. They have other things they need to focus on and experience.

The sad people are those who cannot or will not accept growing older and who fear death. That 7% noted in the article are the ones who become bitter old people.

Spass_Taschen		2012-06-18 01:41:05 PM

My mom's biggest fear is not that she'll be living in pain and dependence, but that she'll be too out of it to take care of the problem herself. I've pretty much known since I was in my teens that there's a 50% chance her death will be by suicide, but not until my father is gone and she is diagnosed with something terminal. My big fear with her is that she'll do it sooner rather than later if she gets something that will leave her unable to do it if she waits too long.

darkscout		2012-06-18 01:45:16 PM

God forbid we let them use pot.

When I get near the end it's going to be a morphine circus.

Smidge204		2012-06-18 01:45:38 PM

Terry Pratchett: Choosing To Die

(59 minutes)
=Smidge=

DoBeDoBeDo		2012-06-18 01:46:43 PM

So it's safe to say that they Don't Fear the Reaper?

/More Cowbell

LDM90		2012-06-18 01:47:10 PM

I'm nearly 40 and it's my greatest fear. My job is to take care of everyone else. If that situation became reversed, it would not be pretty. I couldn't stand to be helped and honestly, I don't think they'd be very good at it. Assisted suicide plz.

stupid me		2012-06-18 01:49:11 PM

Physician assisted suicide is legal in Oregon and the Office visit and meds are covered under most insurance plans. IT is called the Oregon Death With Dignity Act. Certain criteria must be met but is has been a good option for the 600 or so people who have used it. With boomers aging those numbers will certainly increase.

vudukungfu		2012-06-18 01:49:19 PM

red power wins in the end.
If your spirit is strong, you learn the truth.
today is a good day to die
Today is not a good day to have a male nurse named Buck who drives a Yellow Truck.

ghare		2012-06-18 01:50:17 PM

Huck And Molly Ziegler: If Republicans take the wheel for the next 4-8-12 years, you can be assured that's the cliff we're driving over, sanctioned by the state.

"Yeah, gee, sorry about the bad room and incompetent nurses, granny, but you should've used the 'old girl network' while you were in the prime of life 50 years ago to get a good stable job where you could afford to buy long-term care insurance."

"But then, if you HAD done that, we would have taken it from you anyway, along with your pension and everything else we signed contracts to provide, because fark you, peon."

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