Moral case for legal age change

Abstract

Please cite the published version from the JME website. https://jme.bmj.com/ http://dx. Abstract:Should a person who feels his legal age does not correspond with his experienced age be allowed to change his legal age? In this paper, I argue that in some cases people should be allowed to change their legal age. Such cases would be when: 1) the person genuinely feels his age differs significantly from his chronological age and 2) the person's biological age is recognized to be significantly different from his chronological age and 3) age change would likely prevent, stop or reduce ageism, discrimination due to age, he would otherwise face. I also consider some objections against the view that people should be allowed to change their legal age and find them lacking.

Age change, official age and fairness in health

“…Perhaps there are other contexts in which the state should treat people on the basis of their official, rather than their chronological, age (or, for that matter, not treat on the basis of any notion of age at all). Hence, one might either see our argument as an objection to Räsänen’s argument or, alternatively, as a friendly, but for healthcare purposes, crucial amendment 1…”

“…Dutchman Emile Ratelband took to the courts to have the state reduce his age (69) by 20 years to avoid (perceived) age discrimination. Against this backdrop, in a recent JME article Joona Räsänen makes the following interesting case for legal age change, where to ‘change one’s legal age… would mean to change one’s birth date’ in official documents:1…”

Age and ageing: What do they mean?

“…Baars (2007) argues that chronological age cannot by itself give any precise reference to (a phase of) ageing processes. It is also argued (in Räsänen, 2019aRäsänen, , 2019b, that the distinction between chronological and biological age warrants legal age change in some context. However, the view presented here is more fundamental and deeper than presented in Räsänen (2019a) or in Baars (2007).…”

Age change in healthcare settings: a reply to Lippert-Rasmussen and Petersen

“…In ‘Moral case for legal age change’, I proposed that people who are discriminated against because of their age should be allowed to change their legal age (date of birth) to match it with their biological or emotional age, instead of chronological age, to avoid the discrimination 1…”