IS OLD AGE A DISEASE?

persons a higher priority in the receipt of medical care and to limit or deny to the elderly access to those resources? Some rather persuasive reasons might be cited to justify such an age-based criterion. Aged persons are on the average less likely than younger ones to benefit from medical treatment; thus, if it is the essential purpose of medicine to heal, to cure disease, or to ensure an acceptable“quality of life,” we might well argue that it is more efficient to spend our limited resources on those who can actually be restored to health and vigor. To deny expensive treatments to the elderly, who currently use a portion of health care resources far out of proportion to their statistical representation in society, would allow us to treat many more younger people, to invest more funds and energy into medical research, prenatal care, and care for children, particularly those who are poor. The social benefits that could accrue from this reallocation of resources are potentially enormous. And to those who would object that it is unfair to dis­criminate against patients on the basis of age, we might also defend our criterion as a matter of simple justice. The elderly, we would say, have succeeded in attaining the normal human life span; and once people have reached this age, medical science need no longer concern itself with helping them live longer and ought to direct its attention toward helping younger persons extend their own lives, fulfill their dreams, and achieve their purposes.

None of the arguments in the preceding paragraph, or others that might be raised to the same end, is free of difficulty. Each one can be criticized or refuted. I cite them here not to advocate the use of age as a criterion for setting priorities in medical treatment and resource allocation, but simply to indicate that a case can be made in favor of such a procedure. Indeed, many communities, convinced

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