Old Age and Women: The Emerging Threats

During my early years in bioethics I paid a first-time visit to a nursing home. After talking with the director of the home and visiting the patient’s rooms, something caught my eye and I decided to ask him about it. “It’s mainly women here,” I said, “where are the men?” “Oh, they are outside,” he responded, “in the cemetery.” That was my introduction at first hand to the longevity gap between men and women and to the fact that, though living longer than men, that benefit is offset by having poorer health in old age. It just does not kill women so soon. I will leave moot the question of whether that should actually be called a “benefit” or not.

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