Summary Of A Life Worth Ending By Michael Wolff

“What do you do with your mom when she can’t do anything – anything at all- for herself?” (Wolff 219). The question I’m sure we all fear, but we all must answer. In Michael Wolff’s “A life Worth Ending” he brilliantly writes about prolonging the life of his dying mother, and the issues that come as a consequence. He writes, “By promoting longevity and technologically inhibiting death, we have created a new biological status held by an ever-growing part of the nation, a no-exit state that persists longer and longer, one that is nearly as remote for life as death, but which, unlike death requires vast service, indentured servitude really, and resources.” (Wolff 207). As a human I know we all must die one day, so what is the real purpose in trying

to prevent death or try to prolong the life of a being that is either ready to past or is simply too sick to stay alive on their own? To put your older loved one through the hell of supervised living, routine hospitalizations, and incurable pain from surgeries just so you won’t have to bury them before your ready is downright cruel and unusual. Signing up for the role of God comes with a lot of responsibilities and consequences we as mere humans are sure not ready for.
In his book, Michael Wolff, bases his theme on longevity and how it creates a “no exit system” for humanity.

This “no-exit system” as he calls it requires a lot of extra service. These services are very tedious and stressful. Wolff, starts out by telling the reader about his trip to an insurance company and how the meeting gave him an epiphany about prolonging life. His visit to the insurance company was a pit stop. He was actually on his way to see his dying mother in the hospital. The insurance company specialized in long-term care polices, and the cost were extremely expensive. “For $5,000 a year I’d receive, when I need it, a daily sum to cover my future nursing cost.” (Wolff 205). In this part of the book he is trying to make it all make sense in his head. He is painting the issue for the

reader.
In Joshua Wiener’s, “Generations” he states, “The striking fact about current long-term-care financing is that such a trivial portion of the bill is paid by ant form of insurance. Only 3 percent of the elderly have any private long-term-care insurance.” It is obvious that without insurance the elderly will be forced to occur unpayable hospital debt, or worst not be able to pay for the care they need forcing their loved ones to come out of pocket and pay. “I’ve lost so much behind trying to make sure my granddad was taking care of the right way.”, said Karey Marshal. I interviewed Ms. Marshal and she revealed to me the hardships of trying to make sure her granddad was taken care of: “I lost my home and had to sleep in my car for a week with my two children, because my dad needed to pay for a liver transplant.” He couldn’t afford the insurance so we had to pay out of pocket.”
“A Life Worth Ending” is a great demonstration of Ms. Marshal’s story, it gives an in-depth summary of why it is her granddad couldn’t afford to pay. “I don’t need to be schooled in the realities of long-term care: The cost for my mother, who is eighty- six and who, for the past eighteen months, has not been able to walk, talk, or to address her most minimal needs and, to boot, is absent a short-term memory, come in at about $17,000 a month.”(Wolff 206). Wolff, gives you factual evidence to prove his theme: Longevity is a death inhibiter. He does this by showing the reader the actual cost of things, instead of just telling you it’s expensive. Medical care cost is a big portion of why Wolff believes it’s better just let nature take its course and accept the inevitable, but it sure isn’t the only portion.
“Healthcare practitioners hesitate to refer patients to hospice for fear of losing control of the patient’s healthcare or missing a treatment that could delay the inevitable.”, Said RN, Connie Jaenicke in her article “Acceptance and dying”. The question is, Why? Why try to prevent peace for someone living in hell? In assisted living or hospice care facilities our loved ones are able to come to terms with reality. They are able to find peace in the fact that they are dying. Wolff talks in great detail about his mother’s story and her experience with constant hospitalization. “The operation absolutely repaired my mother’s heart – “She can live for years,” according to the surgeon (Who we were never to see again)- but left us longing for her level of muddle before the valve job. Where before she had been gently sinking, now we were in a free fall.” (Wolff 214)
The reader can conclude that hospitalization in comparison to just getting them somewhere with supervision and peace is almost torture. “Over the last two decades assisted living facilities have become an increasingly popular option for the long-term care needs of the elderly in the United States. Assisted living facilities provide 24 hours of supervised care in a residential setting that is more independent than, and does not have the same social stigma as nursing home care” (Bowblis 238). With the new demand for assisted living care we and expect

to see an increase in death acceptance and a sure decrease in death inhibiters.
Fig.1 Shows a table of the change in the market structure of assisted living homes from 1999-2005 “Market Structure, Competition from Assisted Living Facilities, and Quality in the Nursing Home Industry” (Bowblis)

“Assisted living facilities could affect nursing home quality either through competition or through changing the case-mix.” (Bowblis 248).

Think about it like this, if you were put in a place where care was low and based on the number of people are admitted wouldn’t you get stressed out. Now think about what stress does to the body. Terrible things right? Imagine stress on top of decaying of the mind and limbs from old age. This is a sure recipe for insuring that we stay in the hospital and on the operating table.

Illness and pain are by fare two of the worst things we could ever see happen to a loved one. Moreover, know that illness and pain is irreversible and sometimes fatal. Most illness in our older loved ones are caused by the fact that their body is aging. “Older adults experience more chronic illnesses than any other age group (Merck Research Laboratories, 1997).” (Brown 93). “The elderly, especially those over 80 years of age are the fastest growing population in the US, and the elderly report more pain than younger persons.” (Karen Bellenir 57). Michael Wolff discusses his mother’s illnesses and how it is effecting her everyday life. He goes a step further and paints a picture of how it makes him feel, in turn Wolff is able to capture the reader and draw them close to his opinion. “She strains for cognition and shockingly, sometimes bursts forward, reaching it – “Nice suit,” she said to me, out of the blue, a few months ago- before falling back. That is the thing that

you begin to terrifyingly appreciate:” (Wolff 210). The author is genius in proving reasoning’s for his thesis.
“Chronic pain is highly complex, and because of cognitive issues and changing metabolic issues it may be even more so in the elderly population. Chronic pain is never unidimensional, solely biological or solely psychological: it is almost always multidimensional, involving not only neurophysiological systems but emotional and behavioral systems as well.” (Bellenir 58)
This excerpt is important because it proves that chronic pain is very real and very much an issue to our elderly. Chronic pain is something that could happen to anyone of course, but is more prevalent in older people is it something that should be handled with a high level of care and love.
Wolff’s mother had what is known as dementia. Here are some facts about dementia from the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA):
• Dementia is a general term that describes a group of symptoms-such as loss of memory, judgment, language, complex motor skills, and other intellectual function-caused by the permanent damage or death of the brain's nerve cells, or neurons.
• One or more of several diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, can cause dementia.
• Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia in persons over the age of 65. It represents about 60 percent of all dementias.
• The other most common causes of dementia are vascular dementia, caused by stroke or blockage of blood supply, and dementia with Lewy bodies. Other types include alcohol dementia, caused by sustained use of alcohol; trauma dementia, caused by head injury; and a rare form of dementia, frontotemporal dementia.
• The clinical symptoms and the progression of dementia vary, depending on the type of disease causing it, and the location and number of damaged brain cells. Some types progress slowly over years, while others may result in sudden loss of intellectual function.
• Each type of dementia is characterized by different pathologic, or structural, changes in the brain, such as an accumulation of abnormal plaques and tangles in individuals with Alzheimer's disease, and abnormal tau protein in individuals with frontotemporal dementia.
Looking at all these things you can then see what it is his mother and many other elderly people go through. I couldn’t imagine having to take care of my mother in this condition, and yet the true reality is that I might have to. This to me is why Wolff story is so important and beautifully written. Throughout his whole essay he gives the reader everything they need to know about illness, and longevity in older people. He completely accomplishes the goal of his theme and informs the reader while doing it.
Wolff concludes his story with a firm decision. He decides that he will work out a do-it-yourself exit strategy (223). The author at this point in the story has completely captivated the reader. You are no longer wondering if longevity is a death inhibiter. You now know it is, and my bet is you’re on board with trying to create your own do-it-yourself strategy for death. To some this may be an up surd concept to grasp. Basically trying to insure your own death before the horror show. This concept is simply not for you. Wolff is targeting the ones that understand and inner stand that trying to prolong life is a waste of time, money, happiness, and resources. When you talk about losing and love things become really unclear. Depending on the circumstance you might feel compelled to do things you might have never even thought you were capable of. We spend our entire life loving our parents, learning from our parents, and aspiring to be like our parents. Your parents are your first superheroes; I know mine were and still are. Then to suddenly have the roles switch because now your superhero requires assistance everywhere, requires assistance to the bathroom, or needs to have to be told who you are. You begin to do anything you can to help, but where do you draw the line? When do you make the decision to pull the cord or to stop giving them the medicine that is keeping them alive but taking their memory away. When you have to make that decision think about the cost. Think about the suffering your parent is really going through. Why not accept the plan of their creator, of your creator?