21–30 of 44 posts
Give me the freedom to end my life when I want to end it and you don't have to care about my care and I bet I am not the only one.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not much different than the US, really. I had to hire some at-home care for a relative with brain cancer, and almost all of them were drunk on the job, falling asleep when they were supposed to be monitoring at night, or getting offended at something their patient said, who's mental state resembles that of a psychotic 8 year old. Oh and if you don't lock shit up, some of them will steal. At a certain point, you fire…
Did you go through an agency or a private hire? I took care of my dad in his final months during Covid. The hospital gave him Covid and then forcibly discharged him, so none of the agencies wanted to deal with him. I was able to find someone who wanted direct work and who was not daunted by the 'rona. They were fantastic. But of course one person can't do every day or around the clock care. I had another great mother…
Please stop paying any attention to the Torygraph / Reformgraph. It used to be good decades ago but now it just spews propaganda nowadays.
https://westenglandbylines.co.uk/opinion/daily-telegraph-dis...
I'm assuming that they've not been to a "normal" UK carehome now. Its staffed with minimum wage workers who are in perilous conditions, with no support, time or backup. They are cleaning shit a piss all day long, and being shouted at for being foreign by the demented.
Not much different than the US, really. I had to hire some at-home care for a relative with brain cancer, and almost all of them were drunk on the job, falling asleep when they were supposed to be monitoring at night, or getting offended at something their patient said, who's mental state resembles that of a psychotic 8 year old. Oh and if you don't lock shit up, some of them will steal. At a certain point, you fire…
First, the PAs from the agency who employed them did a better job than we could have. Most of them were current nurses picking up extra money or former nurses who had retired from active work. Save for one who was new to the job and clearly in over her head (and removed from the account after one short shift), they were all competent and conscientious caregivers, if maybe struggling personally one way or another. Not a job anyone chooses to do, I suspect, but one they're often driven to by circumstance.
Second, that kind of care is prohibitively expensive long-term. The memory care facility costs 25% to 30% of the in-home care, and is far safer. We got lucky and had access to a smaller facility with a very low resident-to-staff ratio.
In the US, at least, I don't see the prospects for this kind of care getting anything but worse. I worry that once the Baby Boomer volume of elders passes through the system, the capital that has swallowed so much of elder care up will pull out and a lot of it will collapse and what survives won't be particularly good or affordable, even compared to current levels.
I'm assuming that they've not been to a "normal" UK carehome now. Its staffed with minimum wage workers who are in perilous conditions, with no support, time or backup. They are cleaning shit a piss all day long, and being shouted at for being foreign by the demented.
Give me the freedom to end my life when I want to end it and you don't have to care about my care and I bet I am not the only one.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, but a lot of those elderly people have some significant degree of dementia. That make it difficult to go out on your own terms.
This can be covered in advance, when you can set what to do with your organs after death, or whether to resuscitate you or not and so on, it can be done for this scenario. In advanced societies of course, but we have few and unfortunate people travel from far and wide to reach those services.
I'm assuming that they've not been to a "normal" UK carehome now. Its staffed with minimum wage workers who are in perilous conditions, with no support, time or backup. They are cleaning shit a piss all day long, and being shouted at for being foreign by the demented.
This framing is ridiculous. Elder abuse and neglect is rampant. Nursing homes are run like prisons and you're empathizing with the guards.
Give me the freedom to end my life when I want to end it and you don't have to care about my care and I bet I am not the only one.
The UK parliament just spent a year and a half on an assisted dying Bill, but then it ran out of parliamentry time. So the powers that be decided no
The government could make time for this and they could tell the lords to do one. They just chose not to.