Old Age Is Not A Disease

Continued from the previous post.

There are efforts to define aging as a ‘disease’ and turn it into a treatment area. 

It is important to discern what is medically necessary in health care for the elderly. Aging is not a disease but a stage in life but again possible and necessary health concerns for the elderly are also a part of growing old and aging well. 

However, if aging is viewed as a disease, it becomes a process that can be treated. The most recent commercialization of aging medical services is in the area of ​​dementia. Too many places claim that dementia should be tested and treated. At this time there are no cures for Alzheimer's and other related dementias. However, some treatments can help manage symptoms.

Even dementia insurance was introduced. In fact, most senile dementias, excluding idiopathic dementia, are the result of aging, and of course, there is no fundamental treatment. Anti-aging treatment is a temporary illusion. Of course, there are various tests and neurological imaging that can determine the level of dementia.

‘Dementia’, which is listed as a diagnosis, is also subject to private insurance. Pharmaceutical companies that market dementia drugs have been creating and strengthening these standards for decades in major developed countries. Cognitive disorders with treatable causes are presented as the main example, and a wide range of senile dementias have also become targets of drug treatment. Once the drug became available, medical providers began using similar research evidence and claims to make money. Related tests poured out and everything was commercialized. Drugs, functional foods, called cognitive drugs, were also developed and marketed. 

Recently, age-related muscle weakness, loss of balance, age-related farsightedness, etc. are all dismissed as diseases. Considering the premise of aging well, measures are necessary to prevent falls and enable reading. However, the process of turning aging into a ‘disease’ by making it a commodity is seen by many to be no real help to the elderly, and has ended up as a process of surrounding the difficulties of the elderly to drugs and medical knowledge.

If we truly want the elderly to avoid falling into muscle and cognitive decline, what is important is maintaining adequate income, social relationships, and assigning community duties. For adequate income, public pensions such as the national pension must be increased to an amount that allows for a minimum living, and maintaining social relationships requires a community with minimal residential facilities and social care. Additionally, there must be sustainable jobs that utilize the expertise and experience of the elderly, rather than focusing on production. The public foundation of these communities must come before silver towns, pills, and doctor's diagnoses.

However, the reality is that ‘free public transportation for the elderly’ is criticized and the pain and forgetfulness of the elderly are approached only as illnesses. They only claim economic efficiency and are pushing out the elderly in collecting waste paper. 

In Korean capitalism, the church now seems to be the only source of comfort for the elderly. Consequently, the columnist sometimes recommends that elderly patients who have difficulty walking and who don't have a job go to church. This is because the local community has almost collapsed. Aging is not a disease. We all become old.