A new organ

[grampahol]

Something I heard on the radio yesterday was talking about micro levels of lithium in some cities drinking water and those areas with slightly elevated lithium levels have up to 40% fewer suicides and depression than those with less or no lithium . It's nowhere near the kind of levels that doctors prescribe ,just micro levels ,but the difference is undisputable.. It's well known in other countries, but goes almost completely unreported here.. 

If medical research ever finds a way to keep us all alive indefinitely I'm opting out .I've been a caregiver for a lot of old folks and have no desire to be kept alive well beyond the point where life is no longer enjoyable. My dad, 89 can barely get around , falls down routinely and is blind completely in one eye and almost blind in the other, his hearing is all but gone and he doesn't remember things longer than a few minutes. And yet his overall health is pretty good despite a  pacemaker and about 7 stents in him..  Almost every day he'll tell me he's not going to be around much longer ,but yet he's still kicking, going out to get the newspaper he can't read and so on .
I sometimes really wonder if all these medical advances are what they're cracked up to be . I just had a conversation with my dad about locking up criminals for life, but suppose medical advances reach the point where even horrible criminals can be kept alive well beyond their normal life expectancy ? 
Isn't there, or at least be some cut off point where we say enough is enough? If someone commits a heinous crime at 20 and is sentenced to life in prison, but  medical science is able to keep him or her alive well beyond 100.. Personally I would think 80 years behind bars is punishment enough so now we're going to tack on another 30 for something that happened in another century? 
You might want to live to 130..170..250 years old, but I'd be just fine with maybe 80 or 90.. 
Sorry, got a bit off topic, but some things are just not quite worth knowing .
Fine if doctors can cure you of certain disease in your 50s, but is it worth the effort if you've already outlived your grandchildren and great grandchildren ?
I think this is where ethics come into play and the strange thing about ethics is they're not the same for everyone . What is completely taboo today may become completely normalized in 20 years ..

And back to your regularly scheduled programming. The wholesome, healthy foods you eat today will probably kill you next week ..or not.