Geronticide

People don't actually die of "old age". The body doesn't just decide – oh, well, looks like it's time to die. Unfortunately, the body merely decays, becoming more suspectable to infection and other ailments until it eventually dies from one of them. Dying in one's sleep is more often than not, dying from suffocation. While this seems painful, a rush of endorphins has been shown to create the peaceful sense of death. However, the events leading up to death is often painful and the body suffers before the final rush of dopamine.

In that sense, should assisted suicide not be offered before we succumb to our decaying bodies? Should the elderly not be given the dignity to choose death before they lose their sanity to mental diseases? We must face the fact that death is not a peaceful process – yes, the ultimate end often leaves the recently deceased in a contently state, but the process is generally not worth it.

Thus, geronticide (senocide) should be advocated. In this way, the elderly can choose their time of death, die painlessly with dignity, prompt their loved ones of their impending death and ultimately can be in control of how they wish to die. There is no point in allowing the elderly to suffer a prolonged death and waste resources. There is no point in allowing the elderly's loved ones to suffer as they watch the slow painful process of death. There is no point in allowing death to sweep in unexpectedly. The elderly should be given the right to meet death face on.