How Old is Too Old to Save a Life?

Recently former Vice President Dick Cheney received a heart transplant.  Since then there has been an array of stories and commentaries on whether at age 71 he was too old to receive a heart transplant such as this one on Yahoo.  Some of the commentaries were pretty harsh.  I bring this up because there is something in the tone of the articles that raises concerns for those of us who are in our 40's and up.  I really do fear this is just the beginning of this kind of discussion.

The gist of the articles is that typically 70-72 is the cut off age for receiving a transplant.  Many people are turning this into an ethical issue, though I suspect politics are behind a lot of that.  I honestly doubt there would be as much discussion if it were Nancy Pelosi who had the transplant.  Granted, you would probably see more conservative commentators making it an ethical issue.  Regardless of the politics or what ever I thought about the person having the transplant, the question of whether one is too old ethically to receive a transplant is troubling to me.

One thing most articles do not mention is that the reason for the supposed cut off age is not an ethical one but a medical one.  Ultimately whether you can receive a transplant isn't a matter of being too old but whether your body has a chance of recovering from such a surgery.

When we start to make this an ethical issue that says after a certain age a person should be allowed to die rather than receive life saving surgery, we're in a lot of trouble.  Right now it's sort of a fringe debate.  However, with projections such as those that say we'll have 900,000 people over 100 by the 2040's, you can pretty much bet the farm that this will become more and more of a hot button issue in the next 10 to 20 years.  The shift to a more elderly population in that time frame is going to create a strain on medical resources in a way we can only begin to imagine and there will be some backlash, even more so if by that time we move to a system that rations health care.  There will be backlash due to that strain, and I really believe you will see a growing sentiment against providing any form of extraordinary care to someone beyond a certain age.

For people in my age range, reaching that age is still a ways off.  But it's something to be aware of because by the time we get there, the effects and fallout from the aging of the Boomer generation will be full blown.

So maybe now's not too early to start the discussion?