Day 253 - 21 May 96 - Page 26


     
     1   Q.   It is about 5 or 6 years longer for women; is it not?
     2        A.  Yes, but when one becomes 74, one perhaps wishes it was
     3        84!  But the major problem is young people dying of heart
     4        disease and ----
     5
     6   Q.   It various, does it?  It obviously varies according to what
     7        age you have already reached which is illustrated by your
     8        survival past the age of 5 point?
     9        A.  Yes, indeed.
    10
    11   Q.   There are tables in Kemp, for instance, which give
    12        insurance companies and things, but I did not want to set
    13        off a chain of enquiries because my recollection was that
    14        the life expectancy is over 70 which is why I asked:  Why
    15        65 for these purposes?
    16
    17   MR. MORRIS:  Is it clear that we are talking about death here
    18        rather than disease?
    19
    20   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  Somewhere, either Professor Naismith
    21        said or an extract was read from a report which defined
    22        premature death as death before the age of 65, and since my
    23        recollection that the life expectancy, in this country
    24        anyway was now into the 70s, I wondered if Professor
    25        Naismith could help on why 65 and he has given his answer
    26        to that.
    27
    28   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes.
    29
    30   MR. JUSTICE BELL: It all arose in my mind because Professor
    31        Naismith is not the only witness to say that we have all
    32        got to die some time and it is premature death which
    33        matters rather than running out of steam, for some reason
    34        or another, at a good age.
    35
    36   MR. MORRIS:  The words complained of refer to "disease"
    37        specifically.
    38
    39   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, but obviously I am interested in what
    40        kills people before what might be thought to be their
    41        natural life.
    42
    43   MS. STEEL:  That is also a question of whether they are kept
    44        alive by treatment methods that are new.
    45
    46   MR. JUSTICE BELL: I need to get my mind round these features and
    47        I wanted to understand how 65 came into the picture, that
    48        is all.
    49
    50   MR. RAMPTON:  I am grateful.  Professor Naismith, Mr. Morris 
    51        said yesterday -- I do not know whether it was a joke or 
    52        not -- but anyhow it touches o what he and Ms. Steel have 
    53        been saying just now.  He, Mr. Morris, said that he would
    54        like to die of old age.  Do people die of old age,
    55        Professor Naismith?
    56        A.  Well, some people have suggested that this is the
    57        explanation for the French paradox that this is what French
    58        physicians put on the death certificates, but I do not
    59        know.  This has been seriously suggested and there is
    60        serious under recording of cardio-vascular events in

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