The Fallacy of "Giving Up" - The Atlantic
The fallacy of giving up is an evaluation of the changes in
the human body and specifically the brain. The end process is not connected to
the mere wearing of the body, but a gradual shutting down that is closely
related to the mind. The central claim proposed in the essay by the author is
the futility of fighting a losing battle. Waging war against the inevitable
death. According to the article, old age is attributed to the changes in the
brain, as opposed to changes in the physical body. The proposition that CT
scans can determine the age of an individual is a fascinating idea that
supports the changes in the human body. The article compares the loss of brain
volume to the recession of gums from the teeth that all characterize aging. Any
efforts to fight back and against aging are finite and futile, and the
subjection of patients to particular studies are unnecessary. Old age, like
death, is inevitable and despite all undertakings both scientific and social,
the process cannot be reversed. There are different citations provided by the
author with the same conclusion such as studies by Philip Roth, Gawande, and
Angelo Volandes among others. The various research and opinions of the
perpetrators are integrated with the essay to provide a common theme of the
futility of opposing the natural course of events in the human body. The point
of focus is the shrinking of the human brain with age among other factors
characterizing old age.
The
essay can be seen to address the old and weary. Using the approach of distinct
analysis, the author asserts the misconception that many patients receive of
costly and yet unwanted care. Such care involves old age caring in the
hospital. The audience can be deciphered from the author’s way of referencing
medical practitioners such as Volandes. He quotes the previous assertions made
by Volandes numerously in the past such as the fact that if people were
informed, they would be less likely to need the medical care they receive from
the hospitals. It is evident that connecting to this old person does not only
involve an informative approach, but also an educative means of ensuring they
do not waste their time getting costly unwanted medical care. Using a rhetorical
approach, the author asserts that for the past ten years, they have been trying
to enhance patient involvement. For example, the need for patients bringing
conversations to doctors as opposed to waiting for the doctors. The questions
are directed to the old since old age is closely related to the verge of dying.
People want to die at the comfort of their homes and unfortunately,
approximately 55 percent of adults die in nursing homes or in hospitals
bringing about a discrepancy that asserts that old age is the verge of giving
up. The evidence of old age and death are evident in the essay are the author
provide a constant reference to them which works well for the paper. The use of
different views and opinions conjured into a continuous flow is an argumentative
approach employed in the journal to connect the audience. The use of
testimonials from professionals is prevalent throughout the document indicating
that the article is well researched. Evident is from quotations such as Michael
Polan argument of “Eat food, not too much and mostly plants”.
A
coherent approach to the topic has been provided. The author starts by
presenting the common causes of death as old age engulfs an individual. Here a
provision of brain volume decrement is provided. After this, the paper takes
into providing different citations as evidence material to suppliment the
argument presented in the journal. For example, personal experience is used to
augment the requirements of joining the physician medical fraternity as quoted
from Volandes. In addition, personal experience has been heavily utilized in
the text as the author recounts his medical internship at the Hospital of
Boston. The reasons for attention and care during old age are presented and
attributed to the fear of death. Despite the reality and inevitability of
death, no one is open to the idea, and everybody is open to the idea of comfort
even in their death bed.
Dying in
comfort is a fallacy, one that the paper disapproves through the provision of
statistical evidence where a majority of old people die in care homes or
hospitals. The constant increase in work in a hospital setting results to low,
meaningless relationships between the doctors and the patients. The evidence is
provided by the author's experience as an intern where the job involved merely
checking the boxes with minimal conversational input from the dying patients.
The setting of the essay can be seen to be a hospital setting where
conversations are used to draw patients. Here old people are perceived as the patients
while the physicians are drawn as the doctors. The use of rhetorical questions
is used to engage the audience in the paper where medical jargon is kept to a
minimum. The tone of the essay appears stable and dry. However, the subject of
death is sorrowful and as such, requires attention to detail and a more
consoling tone.
References
Hamblin,
J. (2015). The Fallacy of 'Giving Up' - Health - The Atlantic. Theatlantic.com.
Retrieved 3 February 2015, from <http://www.theatlantic.com/health/print/2015/01/dying-better/384626/>
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