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After completing Amherst College, he received his M.Sc. from Oxford University in Biochemistry. He received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and his Ph.D. in political philosophy from Harvard University. In 1987-88, he was a fellow in the Program in Ethics and the Professions at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. After completing his internship and residency in internal medicine at Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital and his oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, he joined the faculty at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Dr. Emanuel’s recent publications include the books Reinventing American Health Care: How the Affordable Care Act will Improve our Terribly Complex, Blatantly Unjust, Outrageously Expensive, Grossly Inefficient, Error Prone System (2014) and Brothers Emanuel: A Memoir of an American Family (2013). Dr. Emanuel is also known for his contributions to The Oxford Textbook of Clinical Research Ethics, edited by Dr. Emanuel and members of the NIH Department of Bioethics. In 2008, he published Healthcare, Guaranteed: A Simple, Secure Solution for America, which included his own recommendations for health care reform. Dr. Emanuel is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the chair of the meta-council on the Future of Health Care Committee for the World Economic Forum.
University of Geneva invites Ezekiel Emanuel to make the case for dying at age 75
Ezekiel Emanuel is taking his I-Hope-To-Die-at-75 road show to Switzerland at the invitation of the University of Geneva, where he will be speaking today.
In an interview with Le Temps, Emanuel emphasized that he is opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide: [translation from French with the help of Google Translate]
I am opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide. I feel that people who want that recourse mainly suffer from depression and fear of losing their dignity; we must first provide them with care and compassion. I will not put an end to my life intentionally. But I will not try to prolong it either! From age 75, I will accept neither predictive tests nor care – except for palliative care that reduces pain. I’ll do no more cardiac tests. I will not take more antibiotics and I will not be vaccinated against the flu. If I have cancer, I will refuse any treatment.
He would make a great poster child for the Choosing Wisely campaign against “unnecessary medical care.”
Emanuel was fairly blunt. Though he doesn’t advocate limiting lives to age 75, he does feel that the state (which is paying for health care, thanks to health planners such as Dr. Emanuel) should not be concerned if life expectancy falls; that the state should focus on young people:
. . . I think that developed countries should stop focusing on the life expectancy of their populations. It is useless to chase after Japan, Monaco and Macau, which are the countries where people die the oldest. Once a life expectancy of 75 years or more is reached, the state should stop worrying about that. Efforts could then specifically focus on the health of the youth and the disadvantaged groups – such as African American men who have a lower life expectancy than whites. A massive investment in research into Alzheimer’s disease also seems to me indispensable.
I wonder what sort of research he wants on Alzheimer’s patients, and what he hopes to get from it. Not longer lives, no doubt.
ABYSSUS ABYSSUM INVOCAT / DEEP CALLS TO DEEP 