Life Expectancy Can Explain the Precocity-Longevity Hypothesis Association of Early Career Success and Early Death

The precocity-longevity hypothesis that those who reach career milestones earlier in life have shorter life spans was tested with the 430 men elected to serve in the House of Representatives for the 71st U.S. Congress in 1929–1930 who were alive throughout 1930. There was no tendency for those first serving at an earlier age to die sooner or those serving first at a later age to die later than expected based on individual life expectancy in 1930. Although age at first serving was correlated with death age, the correlation was not significant when expected death age was controlled. The results cast serious doubt on the contention of the precocity-longevity hypothesis that the developmental aspects of the prerequisites, concomitants, and consequences of early career achievement peaks actively enhance the conditions for an earlier death.     

What Matters in the Mirror of Time: Why Lucretius’ Symmetry Argument Fails

By appealing to the similarity between pre-vital and post-mortem nonexistence, Lucretius famously tried to show that our anxiety about death was irrational. His so-called Symmetry Argument has been attacked in various ways, but all of these strategies are themselves problematic. In this paper, I propose a new approach to undermining the argument: when Parfit’s distinction between identity and what matters is applied, not diachronically (as he uses it) but across possible worlds, the alleged symmetry can be broken. Although the pre-vital and posthumous time spans that we could have experienced are indeed analogous with respect to our identity, they are not analogous with respect to psychological continuity, which forms the basis of prudential concern. Lucretius even anticipated the Parfitian distinction. He did not, however, notice the significance that it has for his Symmetry Argument.     

The best of possible worlds: A testable claim of choice

Leibniz said that the universe, if God-created, would exist at a unique, conjoint, physical maximum: Of all possible worlds, it would be richest in phenomena, but its richness would arise from the simplest physical laws and initial conditions. Using concepts of “variety” and algorithmic informational complexity, Leibniz' claim can be reframed as a testable theory. This theory predicts that the laws and conditions of the actual universe should be simpler, and the universe richer in phenomena, than the presence of observers would require. Tegmark has shown that inhabitants of an infinite multiverse would likely observe simple laws and conditions, but also phenomenal richness just great enough to explain their existence. Empirical observations fit the claim of divine choice better than the claim of an infinite multiverse. The future of the universe, including its future information-processing capacity, is predicted to be endless.     

Chapter 12: New Significance and Identity: A Practical Theological Perspective

SUMMARY

This article looks at personal worth and identity, dependence, time and experience, change and loss, death, work and leisure from a distinctively Christian point of view that frees us from the distortions and dread of aging. We are called to embrace life as new creations through the years.     

Language and understanding of cardiopulmonary resuscitation amongst an aged inpatient population

Greater patient involvement in health decision-making requires exchange of information between the patient and the healthcare professionals. Decisions regarding healthcare at the end of life include consideration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The stated objectives of this study were to determine how often language around concepts of resuscitation is used in the community by examination of the English language corpora (ELC); to explore the understanding of the same language by a group of older hospital patients; and to determine the patients’ knowledge of the process and success of CPR, as well as the sources of their information. Medical inpatients aged 75 years and older were surveyed to this end in the setting of a tertiary university teaching hospital. Interrogation of the Australian, British and American English Corpora was accomplished by a linguist, and a questionnaire and semi-structured interview were administered to ascertain patient knowledge. We demonstrated that although medical inpatients have some familiarity with terms relating to resuscitation, there is a lack of understanding of the context, process and outcomes of CPR. The predominant sources of information were television and print media. Examination of the ELC revealed a paucity of the use of terms related to resuscitation. This finding indicates that physicians have a duty of care to determine patients’ understanding around resuscitation language, and terms used, in discussions of their preferences before assuming their engagement in shared decision-making. More open public discussion around death and resuscitation would increase the general knowledge of the population and would provide a better foundation for the discussions in times of need.     

Further Life Experiences Informing the Death and Adjustment Hypotheses

The meaning of life is never straight to us humans. At different turns of life, we perceive different meanings that are offered to us by our own lives. Near one’s death, professional disaster, enmity, family suffering, and fears for life all have their own dimensions. Nevertheless, when summing up, they seem to revolve around the same central themes again and again. In this article, we tried to offer the insights that we found from some very significant and traumatic events of our own lives through the spectacles of our theory—“Death and Adjustment Hypotheses.” Our life is always important; so is our peace and safety. But when we lose our values, we lose everything. It is often that we try to live through our offspring; however, it is our morality and humane values that can ultimately save them from the traumas of life and see them meaningfully through life and death as transcendental beings.     

EMS Treatment of Families in an Ambiguous Out-of-Hospital Child Death: The Role of Attribution Errors

Sometimes children die from maltreatment. However, when first responders enter a scene to save the life of a dying child, the cause of the health problem cannot be immediately determined. EMS professionals are taught to enact the medically appropriate protocols in a family-centered way. This study examines five case studies of infant deaths. When there is ambiguity as to why the death might have occurred, EMS and other emergency personnel seem to be more judgmental and this attitude affects their behavior toward family members. Family members have a more difficult time coping with the loss as a result.     

Parent Grief 1–13 Months After Death in Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Units

Objective. Describe changes in mothers’ and fathers’ grief from 1 to 13 months after infant or child neonatal or pediatric intensive care unit death and identify factors related to their grief.

Methods. Mothers (n = 130) and fathers (n = 52) of 140 children (newborn–18 years) completed the Hogan Grief Reaction Checklist at 1, 3, 6, and 13 months postdeath.

Results. Grief decreased from 3 to 13 months for mothers and from 3 to 6 months for fathers. Grief was more intense for mothers of deceased adolescents and mothers whose children were declared brain dead.

Conclusion. Mothers’ and fathers’ grief intensity may not coincide, resulting in different needs during the 13 months after infant or child death.     

Recalcitrant Fears of Death

According to what I will refer to as judgmentalist approaches to the fear of death (JFD), the fear of death conforms to the structure implied by judgmentalist theories of emotion. JFD holds that fears of death are constituted in part by evaluative judgments or beliefs about one’s own death. Although many philosophers endorse JFD (explicitly or implicitly), there is good reason to believe that it may be problematic. For, there is a troubling (and, for the purposes of this discussion, rather interesting) objection to judgmentalist theories of emotion; if judgmentalism is false, then so too is JFD. In brief, the worry with judgmentalist theories is this: it is sometimes the case that one has an emotion, but holds a belief (or beliefs) that is in tension with the emotion. For example, I sometimes fear flying despite the fact that I believe flying is not dangerous. Emotions of this sort are often referred to as recalcitrant emotions, and they are widely thought to pose a serious challenge to judgmentalist theories. In this paper, I consider an objection to JFD based on the existence of recalcitrant bouts of the fear of death. I include in this discussion an Epicurean-inspired solution to the problem of emotional recalcitrance. Although I argue this solution may be ultimately unsuccessful, I believe it is still worth considering. For, in most discussions of the problem of emotional recalcitrance, philosophers abandon judgmentalism in favour of some other theory of emotion. The Epicurean-inspired solution I discuss in this paper, however, may allow one to retain one’s commitment to judgmentalism.     

Family and social networks after bereavement: experiences of support,change and isolation

The role of family and social support networks on grief experiences following the death of a family member in a road traffic accident is explored. Twenty‐one bereaved informants were interviewed and the data analysed using grounded theory methodology. We outline the ways in which a crash fatality impacts upon familial and social relationships. The data clearly demonstrate that although the death of a loved one precipitated closer familial and social bonds in some instances, it was more common that those relationships deteriorated and collapsed. Implications for service delivery, grief education and research are discussed.