Rethinking Aging
Growing Old and Living Well in an Overtreated Society
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- US$19.99
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- US$19.99
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For those fortunate enough to reside in the developed world, death before reaching a ripe old age is a tragedy, not a fact of life. Although aging and dying are not diseases, older Americans are subject to the most egregious marketing in the name of “successful aging” and “long life,” as if both are commodities. In Rethinking Aging, Nortin M. Hadler examines health-care choices offered to aging Americans and argues that too often the choices serve to profit the provider rather than benefit the recipient, leading to the medicalization of everyday ailments and blatant overtreatment. Rethinking Aging forewarns and arms readers with evidence-based insights that facilitate health-promoting decision making.
Over the past decades, Hadler has established himself as a leading voice among those who approach the menu of health-care choices with informed skepticism. Only the rigorous demonstration of efficacy is adequate reassurance of a treatment’s value, he argues; if it cannot be shown that a particular treatment will benefit the patient, one should proceed with caution. In Rethinking Aging, Hadler offers a doctor’s perspective on the medical literature as well as his long clinical experience to help readers assess their health-care options and make informed medical choices in the last decades of life. The challenges of aging and dying, he eloquently assures us, can be faced with sophistication, confidence, and grace.
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We now know exactly where we are at a "ripe old age" about 85, and more of us are hitting that mark than ever before, notes Hadler, a professor of medicine at UNC Chapel Hill (Worried Sick: A Prescription for Health in an Overtreated America). But it's all downhill and at a fairly quick clip after that. And here's where Hadler moves into myth-buster mode, arguing that it's not useful to hope that biotechnology will stave off the grim reaper. Better to live the old lives we reach by making smart decisions as we travel there, e.g., ignoring media hype about "the scare of the week, the miracle of the month," and be wary of road maps to impossibly golden years. Hadler cites controversial studies showing, for instance, that there is no obesity epidemic. He also cautions against the growing array of screening tests: unlike diagnostics that look for an existing problem, screening hunts for culprits that could create a future problem that may never materialize. With this thoughtful guide, Hadler urges better options for end-of-life care than a lonely, traumatic last stop at the hospital.
