Is aging a preventable or curable disease?
The question of whether aging is a disease is old and controverted. Three possible positions are outlined: (i) aging is a natural event, not a disease; (ii) aging is a disease, to be combated by medical knowledge and skills; and (iii) aging, while natural, can be treated as if it is a disease and efforts made to lessen its undesirable impact. The last position seems, de facto, the one that is being pursued by contemporary medicine; however, in such a pursuit, important issues will be raised of intergenerational justice in paying for advances in medicine, and the need to balance the medical goals of care for aged people against other important social needs.
Callahan
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D
Hastings Center, Garrison, New York, USA. Callahan@thehastingscenter.org
Topinkova
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E
D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D011315:Preventive Medicine / Q000639:trends*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors