How do you feel about the much higher medical costs, in the many $millions, to provide older veterans with viagra which their wives may or may not be enthusiastic about? When my 74 year old husband was dying slowly of Alzheimers, the VA doctor wanted to know if our sex life was satisfactory. I had to explain to him that at this point his behavior and cognition was that of a child and anything of that sort would feel really weird and inappropriate. He died 15 months later.
“How do you feel about the much higher medical costs, in the many $millions, to provide older veterans with viagra which their wives may or may not be enthusiastic about?”
Against it. I’m past needing it, but does the VA hand out birth control to younger women? Never asked; I always felt that responsibility should be squarely on my and my husband’s shoulders.
And, we can take this a step further. MILLIONS was spent on my FIL by the VA when he went septic after failing (on his part) to have a simple hernia taken care of that was 10+ years old. He was already well into his 80’s and they felt they needed to keep him alive for some reason. He spent a full month in ICU and then another two in regular hospital care.
And don’t even get me started on my OWN Dad (also in his 80’s) who has sucked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in a few years’ time on his Medicare/Medicaid. Again, everything wrong with him is self-inflicted due to smoking, alcohol abuse and a sedentary lifestyle. He’s losing his marbles now; he still remembers me, but is fixated on our family dog who died 45 years ago. He doesn’t know who the current President is, or what day of the week it is.
It’s a slippery slope. I’m against abortion, but I’m also against ‘science’ keeping us alive just so we can languish. BUT - I also don’t want to be the Judge & Jury on End Of Life issues.
Tough call.