Fatal disease: Would you want to know

[El Greco]

Example: Huntington's disease (http://www.hdsa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=help_info_ed_faq) is a devastating brain disorder wich leads to death 10-20 years after its onset. Currently there is no available cure or prevention but there is a definitive test that can tell you whether you are going to develop the disease or not.

Would you want to be tested for this or any other fatal diseases for which there is (or would be) an significantly accurate test but no cure or prevention possibility ?

[richardm]

I'm not sure - but I think probably I'd prefer not to know. I'd only spend time wondering whether that forgetfulness or this dropped glass was just one of those things or the onset of the disease, which would be a touch stressful to say the least.

[Hardenbergh]

I wouldn't want to know. If I had cancer or MS, I wouldn't want to have chemotherapy or shoot myself up with steroids and go around bloated and have my hair fall out. I'm a very negative person in this respect and I just don't have what it takes to deal with something like that with conventional medicine. My best defense to deal with reality is not to deal with it and just let nature take its course.

[Terry]

Back in the days when there were no approved antivirals effective against HIV, I never got an HIV test, exactly because I didn't want to know, given that there was nothing that could be done. (And yes, I did treat every sexual encounter as potentially between people of opposite HIV status. Safer sex every time.)

[TragicMonkey]

Of course I'd want to know. Then instead of putting money away for retirement, I'd spend it having fun in what time remained to me.

[Twilek]

TragicMonkey stole my answer.

[roger]

Why!!! What do you know about me???:yikes:

[Luciana]

Life would be so much more enjoyable if I knew the approximate time of my death.

I read a book by an oncologist where he explains his amazement at seeing terminal patients finding pleasure in the smallest things of life. Those things we take for granted and suddenly become so important because we know we are about to lose it. So every meal, smile or sunset could be the last. He saw people putting their lives in a better perspective, saw them struggling for life in a way he did not think it was possible. And he concludes by saying he wishes he could live life with that enthusiasm until he dies of old age.

Instead of fretting, I could just sit back and relax. Yes, I wish I could know.

[luchog]

Instead of fretting, I could just sit back and relax. Yes, I wish I could know.
Why not do that anyway?

[Luciana]

Why not do that anyway?

Because we worry too much about our future as it is. Would you choose to be a parent if you knew you only had 5 years ahead? If you knew, you could choose. You could organize your life better. Not save up for retirement, not neglect things and people you love, etc. For some people, including me, getting organized and having a plan is very soothing.

[richardm]

But isn't El Greco's example a bit different? We're not really talking about knowing when you're going to die. He's talking about a disease that is slowly debilitating. It can develop at any point between now and fifty years time (or more), and you wouldn't know when - just that it was going to start at some point.

In such circumstances I think I would be happier not knowing, for much the same reasons as Terry.

You never know when it's going to strike, so you still have to plan for the future. By not knowing whether it's coming or not, you don't have your days blighted by that certainty of a long, lingering death. You are, in short, in the same boat as you would be if such a test had never been developed. In the same boat as we all are now - facing an uncertain future.

And perhaps we should all be spending more time enjoying ourselves now, just to be on the safe side.

[El Greco]

I'm also skeptical on whether knowing the approximate time of your death would really permit you to live your remaining life to the fullest. If you knew that you only had e.g. 5 years, what kind of "normal" relationships would you have in that time ? How do you experience a relationship that you know will soon end in a tragic way ? How would a potential mate feel when told that you only have a limited amount of time ?

[Skeptic]

Life would be so much more enjoyable if I knew the approximate time of my death.

The old human wish to know of one's date of death is not only *practically* impossible (unless it's pretty soon!) but also *logically* impossible--because we have causal effect on whether we live, or, at least, whether we die.

Suppose an oracle told me I would live to be 100. What if I shoot myself the next day as I fall off a cliff after taking cynadie? Will I *have* to survive? What if I do the same thing every single day? For ten years?

[Skeptic]

But isn't El Greco's example a bit different? We're not really talking about knowing when you're going to die. He's talking about a disease that is slowly debilitating. It can develop at any point between now and fifty years time (or more), and you wouldn't know when - just that it was going to start at some point.

As we're speaking of decades, this doesn't sound that much different than that other disease, "aging".

[deadrose]

Most especially in the case of a genetically-transmitted disease like Huntington's, I'd want to know. It was bad enough discovering after the fact that I most likely had a hand in my 2 sons both being Aspies, but I'd sure want to know for the fatal stuff. I mean, imagine being Arlo Guthrie, and waiting to find out if you have it or not, or if you passed it onto your kids unknowingly.

More in the here and now, I'm a doctor's brat, I grew up closely tied to the medical profession and almost went that way myself. I want to know everything about my health.

Heidi

[Megalodon]

Suppose an oracle told me I would live to be 100. What if I shoot myself the next day as I fall off a cliff after taking cynadie? Will I *have* to survive? What if I do the same thing every single day? For ten years?

Probably the guys in the ER would give you a gold watch or something...

[BPSCG]

I wouldn't want to know. If I had cancer or MS, I wouldn't want to have chemotherapy or shoot myself up with steroids and go around bloated and have my hair fall out. From someone who's been there, not so fast. I had well-meaning ignoramuses tell me, "Oh, the cure is worse than the disease," when they've had neither the disease nor the cure.

Yeah, the cure wasn't a day at the beach, but it wasn't the Gothic horror people make it out to be. I had about 18 chemo sessions over seven months, had about an hour of mild nausea after most of them, and felt run-down and draggy, like I had the flu, as the months went by. My hair got thinner, but it didn't all fall out; I never looked like a freak show or had to wear a wig. Moral of the story: When someone tells you chemo is awful, find out how they know, and remember that your mileage not only may vary; it probably will.

Today, I whitewater kayak in the summer, ski in the winter, and go to the gym after work every day. And my hair grew back.

[chulbert]

I would want to know. Do you have any idea how much fun I could have with the money I'm saving to buy a house?

It also depends on the nature of the fatal disease. If I had a genetic disorder that could be passed on to my children, I'd like to know. If not, it's less of an issue but I still say yes for the first reason.