Why I Hope to Die When I'm Meant to Die

Dr. Ezekiel "Zeke" Emanuel 

University of Pennsylvania bio-ethicist Ezekiel Emanuel has caused a bit of a stir with an article in the latest issue of The Atlantic Monthly stating that he hopes to die at 75 years of age. I'd never heard of Dr. Emanuel before, but should have since he was right in the middle of formulating the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obama Care. Oh, yeah, and his brother also happens to be Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago.

"Zeke," as his friends call him, is clear that he doesn't believe in euthanasia, and won't do things to purposely shorten his life, but once 75 hits he won't do anything to prolong it either. No colonoscopies, no stress tests, no doctor's visits of any kind after 75 years old.

Why?

Because the data shows that overall quality of life peaks at 40 and takes a slow decline until it falls off the table at roughly 75. Dr. Emanuel is not just talking about a person's physical health, but creativity and productivity as well. Artists, composers, scientists and philosophers tend to make the most important contributions to their respective fields by forty, and their last significant one before they reach 60. Nobel Prize winners are usually recognized for some breakthrough that they made in their late 40's. As a person progresses through their 80's one's cognitive, creative and physical abilities deteriorate to the point of making the quality of life increasingly poor. He argues that the breakthroughs made in increasing life expectancy are not so much extending life as prolonging the process of dying. Are their exceptions to this rule? Sure; and he reserves the right to change his mind in the future. But for now, at 75 most people are still living a high enough quality of life that it makes it a good time to pass on before things really start going down hill.

There are aspects of Dr. Emanuel's article I agree with. We in the United States today have an almost pathological obsession with extending physical life. We believe that, with technology, we will find a way to live for ever. We really do believe that 70 is the new 50, which he says is just delusional when we face the facts. I would add that our approach to medical research is a reflection of this delusion. We just don't want to collect money to find a cure for cancer-we want to "defeat" it, as if it were a foreign enemy. Quite often those blessed to have survived a deadly disease like cancer will say that they "beat it," as if it was done purely by a force of will. I'm sure they aren't thinking this way, but it's as if to say that the guy who doesn't "beat it" somehow didn't do all he could, or gave in to an "enemy." We believe that with science and medicine, and a strong resolve, we can beat mortality itself.

But both Dr. Emanuel's position that our years are better limited and those who want to extend life indefinitely are coming from the same point of view: that this is the only life worth living and there is nothing to look forward to after we die. So on the one hand it's better to live while we're still active and productive, calling it a life once we've come to the end of our prime, and on the other we need to find a way to prolong those meaningful years as long as possible, even if in the end we're whistling past the grave yard.

I don't know what Dr. Zeke's beliefs about an afterlife are, and most people still believe in God, even if they aren't terribly religious. But we, as a culture, live like atheists. I would say that most of us take going to heaven for granted, but if we really believed that I'm not sure we would be so afraid to face the reality of death on one hand, or want euthanasia on the other (California and Great Britain are the latest places considering legalizing "mercy" killing). Life is about activity and productivity, with a touch of creativity if we're lucky. If we are disabled, sick, or in anyway less then physically or cognitively up to snuff, then life must not be worth living. The solution is simple; do all we can avoid such a fate through diet, exercises, and medication, end our lives when these don't work anymore or at least don't impede the inevitable, as Emanuel advocates.

But Catholics need to live a different way. We believe that life has a purpose beyond the goals we set for ourselves. We were sent here for a purpose, and are called to spend our time on earth figuring out what that is and doing it. Sometimes, probably most of the time, we don't know what that is until we die and are shown the path we walked and the lives we touched. It's not for us to say when it's done, but for God to make that decision.

We walk a tight rope in a way. We should take advantage of medical science and care for our health, fostering the gift we've been given. All the same, we need to know that we may have 40 years or we may have 100, but our earthly life will end all the cholesterol medicine and power walks aren't going to change that.

Attaching the meaning of our lives to our physical, or even mental, activity level is limiting the things God can do through us. It says that a disabled or developmentally challenged person doesn't have the value of a "normal" person. He can't be as happy or satisfied as a "whole" man. We forget that those the world considers the least are here to teach the strong the value of love and compassion. Those who are old, no longer active are to pass on wisdom to the young. We believe that there is more to reality to what we can see and touch, and prayer is the bridge between the visible and invisible.  Those who can't do any longer still contribute in an incalculable way when they dedicate their time to prayer.

When I was a young seminarian there was a convent of contemplative nuns in the Hunts Point section of The Bronx whose whole mission was to pray for the men in formation for the Archdiocese of New York. Each sister had three or four seminarians that they prayed for. Once a year we went down and visited. My nun was Sr. Mary Thomas. Sr. Mary Thomas suffered from Alzheimer's. I'd go over to her and say hello, but she had no idea who I was. But she prayed for the name she had on an index card, and that name was mine. I'm here, at least in part, because of her prayers. She died many years ago. I believe that she is still praying for me, only now she knows who I am.

If we understand that life is so much bigger than our activity, productivity and creativity, we would have a different attitude toward death. Of course no one wants to suffer decline, or see a loved one suffer. I'm not saying that growing old is going to be easy if you just believe in Jesus. What I am saying is that faith in Christ leads us to trust in something greater than ourselves, and possibilities greater than our fears. Life only loses it's meaning if we only believe in ourselves, our activity and our plans, because those things pass. But when we let go, and allow God to set the agenda, we will see that the grave is not to be hoped for, but it's not to be feared either.

So, I'm not going to put a time limit on this thing called life on earth. If I die tomorrow, or if I'm around for another thirty of forty years, so be it. As long as I'm living like I'm meant to live and die when I'm meant to die.