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Alternatives to the name "geriatrics" - Ian Donald and Jonathan Bayly

On Physician Assisted Suicide - Peter Gibson and C Cohen

Dear David

Following your request for information on how geriatricians are treating the name “geriatrics” at a local level, our department in Gloucestershire has taken the term "Old Age Medicine". There seem to be mixed views about reference to "elderly" by clinicians, while the public and official bodies have indicated that this term is not really acceptable to them. There seems no debate about "geriatric", as this term is not liked by anyone, as far as I can find.

When we were debating our new name for the department, views polarised between those who wished some reference to a specialty for older people, and those who preferred to think of our specialty as general medicine with rehabilitation. I think that at least half of our members have moved on from the debate, as they have attached themselves to stroke services, falls services, or acute assessment units. I believe we need a specialty to cater for the rapidly growing band of frail "fourth age" people during their latter years of life where the benefits from specialist medicine are much less predictable. Our specialty is the study of what happens in those latter years, measuring the benefits and risks of treatments, and understanding the complex biological, psychological and social interactions. I am comfortable that we should refer to our specialty in terms of what we study rather than who we study - hence terms like old age medicine and geratology.

Dr Ian Donald

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Dear David

My idea for an alternative
name for the British Geriatics Society: "British Society for Ageing Health" (? Healthy Ageing) or "British Society for Age and Health" is a good idea!

Kind regards

Dr Jonathan Bayly

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Dear Sir
I am very concerned with the manner in which the BGS Newsletter is being used to campaign to change the BGS policy from being opposed to Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS), to being in favour of it.

I am not opposed to informed debate, but I am opposed to my subscription being used to subsidise a campaign which I do not support and which is contrary to current BGS policy.

The BGS Newsletter of October 2008 contained an article by a pro-PAS organisation. This was followed in the December issue by a fairly neutral article. Are there plans to publish an article opposing physician assisted suicide?

Dr Peter Gibson

Editor’s reply: You will have received a personal letter from the President advising that there is no BGS policy in favour of Physician Assisted Suicide and that we depend on volunteers to provide material for the newsletter. If you or some of your colleagues would like to provide an article which is less neutral, we will be happy to publish it.

The article “ written by a pro-PAS organisation” was not, in fact written by that organisation, although they were certainly the source of some of the data mentioned. It was written at the request of two people (not BGS members) because the media was, and still is, being lit up by stories of euthanasia and yes, by the fact that that organisation was holding a well-publicised event promoting PAS. The media and television has continued to publicise this subject for nearly a year now. A Google search today on “euthanasia” in the UK media turned up no less than 149 articles, including an article in the Times, entitled “A slow, private death, an urgent public issue”. This embodies the public’s perception of dementia, and an urgent desire for the authorities to address the public will to be able to choose one’s time of death while one has the mental capacity to do so.

The BGS’s policy on assisted dying is embodied in our response to Lord Joffe’s bill http://www.bgsnet.org.uk/Nov04NL/
03_Assisted%20Dying.htm. The public campaign goes on however, and publishing those recent articles is our attempt to recognise the pressures upon the law makers. The implications of a successful pro-euthanasia campaign on our members would be profound. Ignoring that such a campaign is steaming ahead is not going to change that, or, I hasten to assure you, the BGS’s official stance.

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Dear David

Assisted Suicide

This topic is being given much publicity and open discussion is advocated by prominent people such as Dame Joan Bakewell and Margo McDonald MSP. Should assisted suicide become legal in the UK., many more people with long-term conditions may well be tempted to end their lives sooner than later.

This will result in smaller numbers of sufferers being available for drug trials and research into these conditions will gradually fade away. Millions of pounds will be saved and could be put by for the next credit crunch or an invasion somewhere to effect a regime change.

An alternative to assisted suicide is to what I used to advise, until I reached a certain age, periodic culls of the older generations.

Viva Geriatrica!
Dr C Cohen

Editor’s reply: For those readers who have not spotted the bulge of a tongue in the cheek, let me assure you, it’s there.

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BGS Newsletter, March 2009
Issue 20 ISSN 1748-6343 20