Should medical science always seek to prolong life?

1. How should we define medical science? Advanced therapies or genetic engineering? Or BOTH? i.e.Prolonging life through medical science is defined as the use of advanced therapies to cure fatal diseases and the use of genetic engineering to artificially modify human genes to give us a higher life expectancy.

2. Issue of inequality

2.1. Who will be able to receive the medical treatment to prolong life? The rich? Then it discriminates against those who cannot afford the treatment.

2.1.1. e.g. Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis as seen in the movie Gattaca, which select certain qualities in an embryo cell.

2.1.1.1. If that happens, the society will be divided into two extreme classes, one is natural people, the other is selected people.

3. Legend: Zhang Yue (blue) Bu Chi (green) Jia Ying (red) Sai (orange) Yang En (Brown)

3.1. New node

4. A question of moral values and ethics VS will/desire of the person (what is best for him/her)

4.1. In reality, if the person is already experiencing so much pain and torture while he's already living on this earth, there's no point putting him through so much to prolong his life. Mercy killing a better choice?

4.1.1. Instead of euthanasia, palliative care can be given to lessen the patient's pain.

4.2. The objective of doctors in modern times, while prolonging lives, would be to alleviate suffering and at times, ending a life is the only way to do that.

5. New node

6. it should seek to prolong life because ideally, a longer life expectancy of existing patients/ people would take away the temporal pain and sadness that family members and friends would experience from the death of a loved one

6.1. All doctors have to take the Hippocratic Oath which in summary states that doctors should always do their best to protect lives.

7. How far can life be prolonged before human beings cease to be human?

7.1. 1. Is quality of life maintained?

7.2. 2. How is life extended?

7.2.1. Better Hygeine

7.2.2. Bionics

7.2.3. Stem Cell

7.2.4. New treatments for cancer that affects many people around the world.

8. Economic Impact of extending life

8.1. Can the Earth sustain a population that is much larger? 10 - 12 Billion

8.2. Is the life extension accompanied by a increased period of productivity? i.e Working age group is larger

9. Without the help of medical science, many valuable lives would be lost

9.1. Such as Stephen Hawking who contributed greatly to the society despite having an illness because of the help of medical science.

10. Depends on how much people value their lives- What do we purchase for our lives?

10.1. Whether the longevity is more important than the quality of our life. The endless life may diminish the value of the limited life which is what we are experiencing now.