Ryan Bridge: We're all living much longer - but at what cost?

We're all living much longer, aren't we? At what cost? That's my question for you this morning.

A report out over the weekend found human life expectancy has just about peaked globally.

It's lights out. Goodbye.  

New Zealand men, you'll make 80, women, you'll make 83, which is great, longer life. Everyone wants one right now.

We're told that we also have a health system in crisis.

People waiting in waiting rooms, they can't afford to see a GP. Over the weekend, I read about a family man, a carpenter from Westport who was sent home, hours later he was dead.

In Rotorua a month ago, remember a man died in the waiting room at the emergency department while waiting.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're all living much longer, aren't we? At what cost?
That's my question for you this morning. At what cost?
A report out at the weekend, human life expectancy has
just about peaked, They reckon globally it's lights out, goodbye.
On average for women between eighty seven and ninety, men
you'll make eighty four. In New Zealand, men you'll make eighty.

(00:21):
Women you'll make eighty three, which is great, longer life.
Every one wants one. Right now, we're told that we
also have a health system in crisis, people waiting in
waiting rooms, they can't afford to see a GP. Over
the weekend, they read about a family of a man,
a family man carpenter from Westport, sent home hours later
dead and lots of dil or. A month ago. Remember

(00:43):
that man died in the waiting room, the emergency department
waiting waiting. So we don't have enough resources for health
or we're not optimizing the resources that we do have
to meet the needs, and we're being overwhelmed by them.
And we have a huge aging population. The number of
people sixty five and over, which was around seven hundred

(01:06):
thousand a few years back, that will quadruple by mid
twenty four quadruple the number of people ninety and over
thirty one thousand. That will quadruple in twenty years, So
we'll have one hundred and twenty five hundred and thirty
thousand ninety plus year olds in New Zealand. Now, if
you're a doctor, you've got two people, both as sick

(01:28):
as each other. One's forty, one's ninety one might die
if you treat the other first. What do you do?
Serious question? I mean to me, The obvious answer is, well,
one person has had ninety years on this planet. You
know you treat the young one first, don't you? Because
the older ones had more life to live. Am I

(01:51):
saying let's stop treating patients based on need and discriminate
against the elderly. No, because I love my great mother,
you know what I mean. We have to do it
on who's sick, us, who's closer to death, all that
sort of stuff. But I am curious for those who
work in healthcare, is there a touch of bias on

(02:12):
who you might treat first. I know you've got the
hippocratic oath, etc. But if you if you're presented with
a situation like that, how do you respond to it
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