Essay On Dying Alone

Many problems associated with aging in the United States are highlighted in the article “Dying Alone”. The first of these is the conflict between the government and our elderly population because “Government policies and procedures [limit] the capacity of residents to enter programs and obtain resources they need” and this leads to isolation, especially for impoverished residents (7). When the poor elderly are unable to work and unable to buy food or medicine to keep them healthy and thriving, they may not find sufficient support from the United States government. Another conflict highlighted within this article is the conflict between the young and the old within poor areas of inner cities. The article states, “Preying on the elderly, who are presumed to be more vulnerable and easier to dupe, is a standard and recurrent practice of neighborhood deviants” (5). This creates a culture in which the elderly population feels an increasing need to become more reclusive to protect themselves from the young deviants living in their areas.

Dr. Leon Kass discusses this problem in the video “Living Old” stating, “people are not only living longer but they’re living healthier into their 70s, 80s, and in some cases into their 90s… The bad news is the price that many people are going to be paying for this extra decade of healthy longevity is up to another decade of anything but healthy longevity.” This is referring to the many chronic diseases and mental deterioration that many of the elderly undergo due to the longevity that modern medicine allows them. All of the health care they will need and the nursing homes they will need to live in as they age becomes very expensive for them and their family