Proposed post-disaster treatments nix many elders

Those receiving Social Security benefits should be very concerned about recommendations in an article in the May issue of Chest, a medical journal. 

It proposes that in a flu pandemic or other major health disaster, when resources and medical treatment are scarce, among those that should be refused attention are people older than 85 no matter what their condition, notes Grumpy Editor.

At first, it sounds like a sketchy outline for a shocking TV movie.

Highlights from the medical journal, official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians, was reported in an Associated Press story that made the rounds in Monday’s media.

Lead writer of the Chest report, Dr. Asha Devereaux, is a San Diego critical care specialist.  The monthly has about 21,000 readers worldwide.

Seniors --- the longest city, county, state and federal taxpayers --- get the brunt of the suggested nixed treatment.  Going back to World War II, many in that category participated in or aided in the development of U.S. medical advances to prolong life on the planet.

Along with those 85-plus, others that would be out of luck for treatment when disaster strikes include anyone older than 60 with severe burns plus others with severe chronic diseases, severe trauma and severe mental impairment, such as Alzheimer’s.

The recommended steps lead one to believe that even a healthy, spry 85 year old who sustains a broken leg in a widespread disaster would get “tossed off the cliff.”

Strangely, no mention is made of how imprisoned hardened criminals or illegal aliens rank in treatment.

The recommended actions bring to mind the 1973 motion picture, Soylent Green.  Loosely adapted from the 1966 science fiction novel, Make Room! Make Room!, the movie is set in the year 2022 and depicts a dystopian society when conditions of life are extremely bad, characterized by human misery, poverty, oppression, violence, disease and pollution.