Ethical Issues and with an Aging Population

According to the ‘International Institute on Ageing’ by 2050 about 21% of the world population will be aged 60 years and above (International Institute on Ageing, 2016). The pace at which the population in both developing and developed countries is aging has stimulated interest in aging ethics. The increasing demand for the health care services has brought forth the debate about resources allocation between different generations. Different ethical issues have come about, but not all of them are susceptible to public and judicial treatment, that calls for a deeper moral commitment and reflection by the governments and individuals. U.S. and other nations are confronted by various ethical issues, which have to be addressed when the countries are faced with health care issues of the aging population.

One issue the U.S. and other nations have to address is autonomous decision making. Autonomy in the decision making is the central basis of human dignity. The fundamental ethical challenge arises when there is a need to preserve this dignity at the time in which there is a declining ability to make an autonomous decision. This decline may not be as consequence of aging alone, but it may also be caused by other factors related to advancement in age such as intellectual and physical disability, and other psychological conditions, which lead to depression and social isolation (Fenech, 2003). This brings about the most difficult ethical issue of whether the tenet of maximum autonomy in making health decisions extends to the authorization of self-destruction. The society and the government have the responsibility of sustaining the growing older population, and U.S. and other nations……………………….