“There was a survey once,” said Morgan Freeman’s character Carter in The Bucket List. “A thousand people were asked if they could know in advance would they want to know their exact day of their death. Ninety-six percent of them said no. I always kind of leaned towards the other 4 percent. I thought it would be liberating, knowing how much time you had left to work with. It turns out, it’s not.”
Scientists may have discovered a new blood test that could possibly tell you if death is in the near future, according to the LA Times. A new study was recently published in the journal PLOS Medicine about researchers who have (arguably) found a way to predict death by monitoring levels of biomarkers (“key molecular or cellular events that link a specific environmental exposure to a health outcome,” according to the National Institutes of Health) in a person’s blood stream.
These biomarkers are molecules that are found in the blood and body tissues that can signal abnormal processes, conditions or diseases, according to the National Post. A simple example is cholesterol being used to check for risk of heart disease. The four biomarkers that were focused on in the experiment are alpha-1-acid glycoprotein, albumin, very low-density lipoprotein and citrate.
To determine the significance of these four biomarkers, Finnish and Estonian researchers took blood samples from a random selection of 9,482 Estonians between the age of 18 and 101, according to the LA Times. They screened the samples for 106 different kinds of biomarkers and monitored them over a period of five years. Over those five years, 508 of the subjects died due to various causes. With these results, the researchers compared the biomarker levels of both the living and dead and were able to identify which ones were more common among those who died. The experiment was also repeated on a group of 8,444 Finnish men and women between the ages of 24 and 74; the same biomarkers turned out to be just as predictable.
“What is especially interesting is that these biomarkers reflect the risk for dying from very different types of diseases such as heart disease or cancer. They seem to be signs of general frailty in the body,” said Dr. Johannes Kettunen, who works at the Institute for Molecular Medicine in Finland, according to the National Post. So not only can these “death biomarkers” be suggestive of certain fatal diseases, but they can tell a seemingly healthy person if in fact death may be the coming years for them due to any sort of “general frailty.”
I think this test is great for conditions that are treatable, but what if there is nothing that can be done? Then it’s too late. Your psyche could be damaged; you’ve taken this test and now you’re just left counting down the days.
Although, it is a matter of probability.
“[The biomarkers] do not indicate someone WILL die within five years, but rather the person has a higher probability of dying,” said Dr. Stephen Kucera, a professor of biology.
Still, this leaves us with a question: Would you really want to find out that you have a higher probability of dying?
I think anybody would have a hard time answering this because there is so much to consider. What if a future test could reveal a fatal disease in which the end result could possibly be prevented or delayed because of this early detection? This determining test could also give those people a chance to live out the rest of their days to the fullest, making the most of their final moments. In these cases, the test could definitely be beneficial. In other cases, someone knowing that they have a higher probability of dying could have a pretty strong, negative psychological effect. It could lead to things like suicide or just a complete mental breakdown. 
“At the moment, near as I can tell, we don’t have such knowledge for the biomarkers in this study,” Kucera said. “Suppose these markers survived scientific scrutiny and ended up being reliable predictors of risk, but we still did not understand why and could not devise any treatments to change them for the better. … I don’t see any point of taking a test for which nothing can be done.”
I don’t see any psychological benefit to taking this blood test and finding out you have a higher probability of premature death if there is no known treatment.
Taking all of this into consideration, I wouldn’t take the test.
“Death is inevitable, but to me, it is also supposed to be spontaneous and something that is accepted,” said Mark Hite, a freshman sports management major. “If someone were to know that they were going to die in the next five years, they might try to change fate in one way or another.”
I don’t think enough of us actually take to heart the idea to live like it’s our last day on Earth. We often take our friends and family for granted, forgetting phone calls and holding unnecessary grudges, when we should instead cherish them every day. We never know how much time we really have left with them.
One of the most defining moments of my life was when my mom told me that my grandpa had just been diagnosed with cancer. Being the good mom she is, she made it seem like everything was going to be fine and that he would get better. I so desperately wanted to believe her, but we all know cancer can be very unforgiving. After all, only half of those diagnosed will live the next five years, according to cancerresearchuk.org.
Even in cases like mine, most of us know that death is inevitable despite all of the medical treatment available. I enjoyed those last two years with him, but I always wondered what was going through his head and how hard it must have been to know that he was in fact dying and nothing could be done to change that. It’s a terrifying thought.
With that being said, I challenge everyone to live like their life is coming to a close. As for that blood test, I will not be inquiring about whether I will be alive for the next five years any time soon. In this case, I believe ignorance really is bliss.
Caitlin Malone can be reached at caitlin.malone@spartans.ut.edu