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Original poster

If you were offered a guarantee to die at 82 just now, would you take it?

207 replies

Deardanielle · 29/10/2023 23:10

Okay, weird one! It was a relatives funeral the other week (died at 82, very short illness) and my dad said to a friend that if we got the option to sign up to die at 82 now we would obviously all take it. Everyone was agreeing but in my head I was thinking, I feel that’s a bit of a gamble when I could potentially make it to 90+. Obviously quality of life is important and you’d ideally not need to be in a care home for those years, would depend what age you are now etc but aside from all of that, would you agree to go at 82? Or what age would you take if you were offered it and you could live the rest of your life happily knowing you wouldn’t die til then? Happy Sunday all 🤣

OP posts:
BagelsForBreakfast · 30/10/2023 08:15

I'll take my 80th birthday
Blow out my candles then cark it head first into my triple chocolate birthday cake
What a way to go

OddBoots · 30/10/2023 08:16

I am far more interested in having a longer healthspan than a longer lifespan.

Missingmyusername · 30/10/2023 08:17

Hell yes! So I get to live up 82 in perfect health… I guess if I felt great I wouldn’t want to go though!
I’d definitely opt for euthanasia, I don’t see the point in suffering.

PinkPantherPrat · 30/10/2023 08:18

I want to die at 70 so I'm out of the equation

Mightbeme · 30/10/2023 08:18

No.

It’s a guarantee to be alive, not quality of life. You might be suffering for 20 years prior to that

And I don’t really want to know when I am going to die.

LlynTegid · 30/10/2023 08:19

I wouldn't. I hope to live longer than that.

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 30/10/2023 08:19

DGM always said 'when I'm 70 just put a pillow over my face.' When she reached 70 and was reminded of this all of a sudden she was very keen on staying alive.

She made it to 92 .

user14699084664 · 30/10/2023 08:20

NoStopping · 29/10/2023 23:33

Nope. I’d hate to know when I was going to die, I think it would change you as a person and how you lived your life.

What I would like, is to know that I could opt for euthanasia, at any age, if I was suffering.

This.
I’d feel a lot less apprehensive about becoming old if I knew I’d got the option to say, that’s it, I’ve had enough now.
Unfortunately I’ve seen old age up close in the last 10 years in various relatives and it’s not a bed of roses.

megletthesecond · 30/10/2023 08:20

Um no. I intend to be capable of a few more years of decent health after that. I'm finally aiming for some decent age graded parkruns by that age.

Dreemhouse · 30/10/2023 08:21

Absolutely not, but then I’m late thirties. I might feel different if I was older. I’ve worked in elderly care and I have definitely seen people living longer but with poorer quality of life, and once you stop enjoying life I can see the appeal. However, I think there is an awful lot you can do when you’re younger to improve what happens to you when you’re older. Some things are inevitable, but you can lessen your risk of many. Exercise and nutrition can make a huge difference.

2chocolateoranges · 30/10/2023 08:22

PermanentTemporary · 29/10/2023 23:21

I'd prefer 75 or even 70. But certainly nearly everyone in my family has still been doing reasonably well at 82 and has been doing much, much worse by 85. So it's a good call and I'd take it.

70 or 75?

wow, my mum is 75, still very active, walks miles each week, has a great social life with her friends for me 75 would be too young. Still has all her sisters alive too.

my gran lived to 79 without any health concerns and my other gran lived a healthy and active life until she took a fall at 87 and she declined from there, lived until 98 but last 3 years she was bed bound.

so women in my family tend to have longer lives.

id rather not know when my time was out!

Unex · 30/10/2023 08:22

I'd take 62 right about now tbh
So long as good quality of life, with not too much pain
I'd be VERY happy with 62

GonnaGetGoingReturns · 30/10/2023 08:24

If I mentioned this to my DM who’s 82 she’d be shocked! She’s a young 82 though and thinks she’s got another 10 years in her at least.

Me, probably mid to late 80s providing I wasn’t in pain or losing my mind.

Woollyjumpersandtomatosoupweather · 30/10/2023 08:28

Having lost both parents in the last decade (aged 82 and 86 respectively) I can say it very much depends on your own good health. By the time DM died (after 5 years of very poor health and living in a nursing home) her DH, the majority of her friends and siblings had all died and she missed them. I must admit I stopped telling her of any close f&f deaths in the last year of her life as she used to get so upset that they'd gone and left her behind.

wildwestpioneer · 30/10/2023 08:29

BirthdayFlower · 29/10/2023 23:19

82 with a short illness, yes. It’s quality of life that counts. I don’t want to live to 100 with no quality of life.

I agree with this completely

wishing3 · 30/10/2023 08:30

No because I wouldn’t like the known countdown to death. ‘Oh, 7 years left now’ etc.

KnittedCardi · 30/10/2023 08:32

It's a tricky one, because I have very long lived relatives, in excellent health, including a 103 year old who lived independently, in the middle of nowhere, and died in her sleep, amazing. I would say late 80's starts to become troublesome, by then you have multiple issues, may be on your own, and lots of your friends and contemporary will be dead. So, maybe 88?

WalkingThroughTreacle · 30/10/2023 08:32

It would certainly make pension planning a lot easier.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 30/10/2023 08:36

No way. Mil is 88 and the relationship she has with my teenage dcs is valuable to all of them and no less now they are no longer little. Would be so sad to have missed out on the last 6 years of relationship with her.

TicTacNicNak · 30/10/2023 08:38

I have painful osteoarthritis at 60 which restricts my mobility and comfort. I'd be happy to go before that, as long as it's quick.

alongtimeagoandfaraway · 30/10/2023 08:41

I dance regularly with several people in their eighties and a few in their 90s (plus younger of course). They are fit, healthy and formidable dancers. 82 would be way too young for them to give everything up and they’d be terribly missed.

Blanketenvy · 30/10/2023 08:41

I'm not keen on living that long to be honest. Already have loads of health issues and am only 43, no kids although I do have some other caring responsibilities. I really worry about being old and really struggling physically and financially. I'd take 70, retire at 60 and hopefully have enough to live on happily for a few years.

MrsEdnaMcPherson · 30/10/2023 08:59

Personally I think euthanasia should be legal ( maybe to over 80s?)
Modern medicine means we are now treating people who have very little quality of life for conditions that previously would have ended thier lives... the care industry is on its knees, but that's a whole other thread....

EmpressSoleil · 30/10/2023 09:01

100% I'd take it. My own DC will be early 60's then and all things being equal I definitely want to go before them. Also don't have GC and chances of that are slim so I don't have that to consider.

My GP's made it to 85/86. My gran was relatively fit and well till then but my grandad spent his last 2 years bed bound with no quality of life. I wouldn't want that. But my gran had told him he wasn't allowed to die before her and he didn't! (went 4 months after). So 82 sounds about right to me.

I will be working at least part time until 67 so I'd like some years of not working at all. I can't see me travelling in retirement. I do it a lot now and already at 54 it's getting tougher to do long haul flights, cart heavy luggage around, be on the go all the time (beach holidays are not for me). So by 70 I think I will happily put my suitcases away for good! So 15 years is probably enough time to potter around at home.

ThreeRingCircus · 30/10/2023 09:36

I think 82 is a reasonable innings, although my grandparents all lived longer than that mostly in good health and all in their own homes.

However, I'd take the deal to go at 82 on two conditions:

  1. I'd be in good health until that age, able to be reasonably active and have all my marbles then a quick and painless death.
  1. That I could make the deal and then immediately forget about it so I had no "ticking clock" hanging over me.

But in all seriousness, I'd prefer that euthanasia was legalised and people could opt out with dignity whenever they chose to.

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