‘Boomers’ Will Step Up to the Challenge

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Today, the oldest-old oncology patients are the parents of baby boomers. Studies have shown that, contrary to some expectations, baby-boomer adult children are even more determined to care properly for their elderly parents than were previous generations. This means baby boomers seeking appropriate treatment for their aging parents with cancer are turning to geriatric oncologists, and, because of the boomers’ efforts, this field will be there for them when they need it.

European geriatric oncologists report that, all too often, elderly cancer patients do not wish to participate actively in making their own decisions. The physicians referred to their elderly patients as “the silent generation,” men and women who are accustomed to deferring to authority. The introduction of American baby boomers into the field, both as sons and daughters of elderly patients and then, in a few years, as the elderly patients themselves, will undoubtedly make this general passivity a thing of the past.

Assertive, educated, demanding, and aware that they have the population numbers to back them up, boomers are out to make the medical profession meet their expectations. They want information and they want to be involved.

Society as a whole must realize that patients in their 70s, 80s, 90s, and beyond are entitled to the pleasures and joys life has to offer, even if they have cancer, even if they have two or three other chronic conditions. If any generation can make it happen, it will be the boomers.