taking care of elderly adults is more labor intensive than taking care of an infant...
an infant is small, easily handled...if he has a soiled diaper, its a quick job to clean up...if he needs food or drink, just grab a bottle....they are soothed by rocking or swaddling..
elderly...the sick elderly...are frail...they could still be large, heavy, difficult to turn...they don't swallow properly.....they take a long time to eat....they choke on pills...you can't put them in a safe crib so they don't fall out...."patient rights" etc....but when they do climb out on their own, there is hell to pay....
people in a hospital are not prisoners...if they don't want to eat or drink, then they can't be forced too....
if they don't want to stay in bed, and you can't restrain them or use those "drugs" to help them relax, then you better be prepared for broken hips and skull fractures....
its a no win situation...
so be prepared to keep your elders in your home....because no country can afford one on one care for the millions and millions that will need care....its impossible....
We have had two of our elders die in our home. A third, unfortunately, could not leave the hospital. Before we married, we talked about this and ordered our lives to make it possible.
It was not easy and required some sacrifice. It was not easy, but we did not have to do it alone, as home health care and Hospice provided wonderful support.
I know we were blessed to even be able to do this and I am sorry for people who might hope to do it as well, but find themselves unable to do so. That would be horrible.
I wonder if this "Brave New World" we are creating has any provision for end of life support mechanisms - and I am not talking about the needle. It goes back to the principle that the preferred solution should be the one that directly involves the small unit (the family) rather than trying to solve the problem with big programs and governmental control.