http://www.franklaneltd.com/uncategorized/take-me-to-the-zoo/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=take-me-to-the-zoo Helping Clients Build Killer Brand™ Businesses Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:24:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.franklaneltd.com/uncategorized/take-me-to-the-zoo/comment-page-1/#comment-142 Aaron Tovi Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:47:48 +0000 http://www.franklaneltd.com/?p=151#comment-142 This is an interesting phenomenon. This past April Barbara Walters hosted an ABC special about the possibility of younger generations living to be 150 years old. The reporting had a very optimistic, even triumphant tone. With a combination of high-tech drugs and lab-grown organs, it isn't far fetched either. But we have to assume that cheating death has a cost. Even in our current hospital environment, its often hard to tell the difference between enabling somebody to live and forcing them to live. Its even hard to agree on what constitutes "alive". My sister is a nurse and was discussing this situation with me. She wisely noted that we're so obsessed with staying alive that we've drawn our attention away from quality of life. Really, this is what medicine should seek to increase. Of course, I'm as thankful for our urgent-care and life-saving technologies as the next guy (or lady), but where do we draw the line? This is an interesting phenomenon. This past April Barbara Walters hosted an ABC special about the possibility of younger generations living to be 150 years old. The reporting had a very optimistic, even triumphant tone. With a combination of high-tech drugs and lab-grown organs, it isn’t far fetched either. But we have to assume that cheating death has a cost. Even in our current hospital environment, its often hard to tell the difference between enabling somebody to live and forcing them to live. Its even hard to agree on what constitutes “alive”. My sister is a nurse and was discussing this situation with me. She wisely noted that we’re so obsessed with staying alive that we’ve drawn our attention away from quality of life. Really, this is what medicine should seek to increase. Of course, I’m as thankful for our urgent-care and life-saving technologies as the next guy (or lady), but where do we draw the line?

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