Rise of Elderly Cardboard 'Exercising', How long they want to Live? SOYLENT GREEN option please

[Hypocrite-The]

Sent packing: Hong Kong's elderly cardboard collectors
image: data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==
The future of Hong Kong's cardboard collectors is uncertain as China closes its doors to imported rubbish. (Photo: AFP/Isaac Lawrence)
26 Aug 2018 12:27PM (Updated: 26 Aug 2018 12:30PM)
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HONG KONG: Her fingers are bent from 20 years of collecting cardboard from Hong Kong's streets, but Au Fung-lan says she has no desire to give up the gruelling work.
At 67-years-old she is one of around 2,900 collectors, mainly women over the age of 60, whose frail figures are a familiar sight, guiding trolleys loaded with cardboard through a city clogged with traffic and people.

They pick up discarded packing boxes from shops, markets and residential buildings, selling them for a few dollars to recycling depots, where cardboard is more valuable than plastic.

image: data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==
Au Fung-lan is one of around 2,900 cardboard collectors, mainly older women, who are a familiar sight in Hong Kong. (Photo: AFP/Isaac Lawrence)

The depots then ship it abroad - up to 95 per cent of it to mainland China in 2016, according to local authorities - as Hong Kong has no recycling plants of its own to convert it into usable materials.
However, as China closes the door to imported rubbish, even from semi-autonomous regions such as Hong Kong, Au's livelihood is under threat.

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Beijing no longer wants the country to be a global trash can and has already started phasing out taking solid waste - a process it expects to complete by 2020.
Pragmatic Au says she tries not to think too much about her work drying up.
She continues to put in 14-hour days so she can afford a carer for herself and her 77-year-old husband, also a cardboard collector, when they finally decide to give up work.
"Some people think our work is arduous and look down on us. They say: 'You are so old, go home and enjoy life. Why collect cardboard?'" Au told AFP.
"But if I can still work, I don't want to rely on others."
RISKY BUSINESS
Au turned to cardboard collecting after being laid off as a factory worker and courier.
She has three grown-up children with jobs but does not want to depend on them for help.
By working from pre-dawn until dusk, she earns up to HK$300 (around US$38) daily, selling 300 kilograms of cardboard at HK$1 (13 US cents) per kilo.

image: data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==
This picture taken on Jul 20, 2018 shows the hands of cardboard collector Au Fung-lan in the Kwai Fong district of Hong Kong. (Photo: AFP/Isaac Lawrence)

It is a phenomenal work rate and much higher than the average collector who makes around HK$47.30 a day, according to concern group Waste Pickers Platform (WPP).
Au attributes her bent fingers to years of tearing cardboard with her hands to flatten it.
She has been hit by a car twice, injuring her shoulders and feet as she pushes her trolley along a busy road to the local depot in the residential neighbourhood of Kwai Fong.
Her trolley and cardboard have also been confiscated several times by government hygiene inspectors.
But she says she enjoys what she calls the freedom of working for herself.
"I'm not afraid. I do it every day," she says.
As unofficial freelance workers, collectors like Au have no legal recognition or employment rights.
China's imminent waste ban could wipe out this informal economy, which NGO workers say is key to some of the city's elderly.
Eighty per cent of the collectors are over 60, with the oldest in their 90s. Eighty per cent are women and around a third work at least an eight-hour day, according to WPP.

image: data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==
This picture taken on Jul 20, 2018 shows cardboard collector Au Fung-lan (centre) taking a break from collecting cardboard to eat breakfast at a cafe in the Kwai Fong district of Hong Kong. (Photo: AFP/Isaac Lawrence)

Many are doing it to supplement their pensions and savings in a city where the wealth gap is growing - the cost of living in Hong Kong ranked fourth highest in the world in 2018, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.
"Cardboard collecting is part of a sub-economy activity which supports grassroots residents' livelihoods," says WPP spokesman Tang Wing-him.
WASTE CRISIS
WPP estimates at least 193 tonnes of waste paper is delivered to recycling depots by the elderly collectors each day.
Jacky Lau, director of a local business association for the waste and recycling industry, said the China ban could not only wipe out work for collectors like Au, but would be devastating for the cities' depots too.
If those businesses were forced to close there could be a "waste paper crisis" in Hong Kong as rubbish piles up, eventually ending up in landfill sites, he told AFP.
The city relies on landfills to dispose of most of its waste but they are already overloaded.
Lau says he hopes Hong Kong will still be allowed to export some waste to China, given its status as a Special Administrative Region of the country. Other countries are not an option due to the cost of shipping, according to Lau.
He also urged the Hong Kong government to speed up a plan to build a local recycling plant to process waste paper.

image: data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==
This picture taken on Jul 20, 2018 shows cardboard collector Au Fung-lan (left) sorting through rubbish in order to collect cardboard to sell to a recycling depot in the Kwai Fong district of Hong Kong. (Photo: AFP/Isaac Lawrence)

With the future uncertain, Au and her husband at least have a roof over their heads - they own an apartment they bought in the 1970s, which gives them some security.
But it also precludes them from receiving government subsidies, except for a small monthly allowance for the over 70s, which Au's husband receives on top of his pension as a former bus driver.
Au's children have urged her to give up cardboard collecting, but she sees it as an investment in her future.
"I told them: 'If you think I bring shame on you, then don't call me Mum when you see me,'" she told AFP.
"They kept quiet after that."

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...-kong-s-elderly-cardboard-collectors-10653804

 

[CoffeeAhSoh]

.
pic have ?

 

[Hypocrite-The]

This Jap minister say it well,,,,why should the general tax payers pay for all these oldies?

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Aso's comments are likely to cause offence in Japan, where almost a quarter of the 128 million population is aged over 60. The proportion is forecast to rise to 40% over the next 50 years.

The remarks are also an unwelcome distraction for the new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, whose first period as Japan's leader ended with his resignation after just a year, in 2007, partly due to a string of gaffes by members of his cabinet.


Rising welfare costs, particularly for the elderly, were behind a decision last year to double consumption [sales] tax to 10% over the next three years, a move Aso's Liberal Democratic party supported.

The 72-year-old, who doubles as deputy prime minister, said he would refuse end-of-life care. "I don't need that kind of care," he said in comments quoted by local media, adding that he had written a note instructing his family to deny him life-prolonging medical treatment.

To compound the insult, he referred to elderly patients who are no longer able to feed themselves as "tube people". The health and welfare ministry, he added, was "well aware that it costs several tens of millions of yen" a month to treat a single patient in the final stages of life.

Cost aside, caring for the elderly is a major challenge for Japan's stretched social services. According to a report this week, the number of households receiving welfare, which include family members aged 65 or over, stood at more than 678,000, or about 40% of the total. The country is also tackling a rise in the number of people who die alone, most of whom are elderly. In 2010, 4.6 million elderly people lived alone, and the number who died at home soared 61% between 2003 and 2010, from 1,364 to 2,194, according to the bureau of social welfare and public health in Tokyo.

The government is planning to reduce welfare expenditure in its next budget, due to go into force this April, with details of the cuts expected within days.

Aso, who has a propensity for verbal blunders, later attempted to clarify his comments. He acknowledged his language had been "inappropriate" in a public forum and insisted he was talking only about his personal preference.

"I said what I personally believe, not what the end-of-life medical care system should be," he told reporters. "It is important that you be able spend the final days of your life peacefully."

It is not the first time Aso, one of Japan's wealthiest politicians, has questioned the state's duty towards its large elderly population. In 2008, while serving as prime minister, he described "doddering" pensioners as tax burdens who should take better care of their health.

"I see people aged 67 or 68 at class reunions who dodder around and are constantly going to the doctor," he said at a meeting of economists. "Why should I have to pay for people who just eat and drink and make no effort? I walk every day and do other things, but I'm paying more in taxes."

He had already angered the country's doctors by telling them they lacked common sense, made a joke about Alzheimer's patients, and pronounced "penniless young men" unfit for marriage.

In 2001, he said he wanted Japan to become the kind of successful country in which "the richest Jews would want to live".

He once likened an opposition party to the Nazis, praised Japan's colonial rule in Taiwan and, as foreign minister, told US diplomats they would never be trusted in Middle East peace negotiations because they have "blue eyes and blond hair".

While figures released on Monday showed a record 2.14 million Japanese were receiving welfare in October 2012, Aso has led a life of privilege few of his compatriots could hope to match.

He is the grandson of Shigeru Yoshida, an influential postwar prime minister, and is married to the daughter of another former premier.

While campaigning for the premiership in 2008, Aso refused to acknowledge the use of hundreds of allied prisoners of war by his family's coal mining business during the second world war. He served as president of the firm's successor, Aso Cement, from 1973-79.


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[Hypocrite-The]

.
pic have ?

Got Video

 

[CoffeeAhSoh]

sad.

 

[Leongsam]

sad.

Why would that be sad?

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Why would that be sad?

Yes u are right,,why would that be sad? death is part of life,,,deal with it

 

[Leongsam]

Yes u are right,,why would that be sad? death is part of life,,,deal with it

To live to 104 and to choose how and when to end it on your own terms is cause for considerable celebration not sorrow. Not many people are as lucky as he is.

 

[CoffeeAhSoh]

Why would that be sad?

.
he left for a better place . :(

 

[Hypocrite-The]

SHARE
New push for voluntary euthanasia laws in WA parliament sparks mixed reaction
By Nicolas Perpitch
Posted1 day ago, updated7 hours ago

IMAGEMargo Beilby believes it should be an individual's right to request voluntary euthanasia if they have a terminal illness.(Supplied)
Mike Beilby's hands shook from Parkinson's disease and his breath was short from a chronic lung condition.
The 73-year-old from Roleystone in Perth's Hills area had led a busy and active life, even building his own yachts to sail competitively.
But he had been reduced to shuffling from room to room, sitting in his favourite chair to read, playing Sudoku and watching TV.
Margo Beilby, his wife of 51 years, helped him with everything — dressing, going to the bathroom, eating.
She remembered doctors telling him there was nothing more they could do for him.
His condition would deteriorate and he would likely drown in his own lung fluids.

"His specialist at Charlies (Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital) said the best thing that would happen would be that he would catch pneumonia and die," Ms Beilby recalled this week.​

After his third visit to hospital in 2013, Mr Beilby decided he had had enough.
He drank a mixture containing the lethal drug Nembutal he had illegally ordered from overseas.
It arrived in the post, hidden in a wedding invitation.
Mr Beilby had prepared a video for police saying he had taken the decision to die alone and his wife and children had nothing to do with it.
If his wife, or anyone else, had helped him it would have been a crime.
A new push for voluntary euthanasia
But that situation may change after a cross-party committee in the West Australian Parliament recommended on Thursday that the State Government legalise voluntary euthanasia for patients suffering from a terminal illness.
The move could see voluntary euthanasia become law in WA as soon as next year.
IMAGESupporters of voluntary euthanasia and assisted dying rallied outside State Parliament this week.(ABC News: Eliza Laschon)
Ms Beilby, a long-time member of the Greens, which support assisted dying, said her husband's suffering could have ended earlier if he had been allowed to receive medical assistance to end his life.
But it remains a highly contentious proposition.
Opposition MP Nick Goiran wrote a dissenting report to the committee's recommendations, convinced the risks of legalising assisted suicide were too great and were "a recipe for elder abuse".

"I also have serious concerns for the impact upon our desperate efforts on suicide prevention in Western Australia," he said.​

"Our ongoing suicide rate of around one person per day is tragic, and we simply cannot afford the dangerous mixed message that comes with assisted suicide."
Fears move will enable elder abuse
Australian Christian Lobby state director Peter Abetz urged the Government to wait for the findings of a separate inquiry into elder abuse before taking any action.
"It seems ridiculous for the Government to consider euthanasia legislation when the World Health Organisation estimates that 15.7 per cent of people 60 years and older experience abuse," Mr Abetz said.
"This would mean that at least 75,000 older West Aussies have been subjected to elder abuse."
Ms Beilby was not convinced.

"I don't think they have got the right to stop me from ending my own life if I'm terminally ill and suffering, for their religious beliefs," she said.​

She acknowledged others thought improving palliative care was a better option than assisted dying, but added it would not have helped her husband, who was not in pain but who still suffered greatly.
For the Australian Medical Association, which has long campaigned against voluntary euthanasia, increasing funding and improving the quality of palliative care would still help many people.
"In the AMA's view, if we fix palliative care we will be improving the quality of the end-of-life experience for the vast majority of Western Australians, rather than focusing on the very small number of people talking about assisted suicide," WA president Omar Khorshid said.
IMAGEAnti-euthanasia campaigners also rallied outside Parliament House on Thursday to mark the tabling of the committee's report.(ABC News: Eliza Laschon)
Having to say 'no' to a dying patient
"Elizabeth", who did not want her real name used, has been a palliative care nurse for more than 20 years and remembered many cases when it worked well for patients.
At the same time, she said, there were always a small number of cases where people had a terminal illness and doctors could not get the symptoms and pain under control.
Elizabeth gave her support to assisted dying in a submission to the parliamentary committee.

"They ask the doctors, 'What can you do, can you give me something?'," she said.​

"And of course the doctor has to say no.
"And they ask and ask and ask, and every time the doctor has to say no."
Nedlands man John Pascoe said his father-in-law, Bill Brewer, had endured acute pain at the end of his life more than 20 years ago.
IMAGEJohn Pascoe's father-in-law, Bob Brewer, suffered from stomach cancer.(Supplie)
He said Mr Brewer had stomach cancer and was sent home with a bottle of morphine.
It was not an experience he believed anyone should have to go through.
Mr Pascoe, who declared himself as "fit as a mountain goat" at 81, said he had prepared health directives to instruct doctors to withhold treatment if his health deteriorated too much.
Even that was far from ideal, he said, with the possibility of starving to death and a painful end to his life.

"But if you could have assisted dying, you know, with the doc whacking in a few chemicals, then off you go," Mr Pascoe said.​

Model to be strictly regulated
Under the model proposed by the committee, a doctor could administer lethal medication where a person was physically incapable of doing so.
People eligible for voluntary assisted dying "must be experiencing grievous and irremediable suffering related to an advanced and progressive terminal, chronic or neurodegenerative condition that cannot be alleviated in a manner acceptable to that person," the report said.
A patient would also have to have "decision-making capacity" at the time of making a choice to die, would have to be aged over 18, ordinarily reside in WA and be assessed by two doctors.
"Elizabeth" supported a model like the one passed in the Victorian parliament last year giving patients the right to request a lethal drug to end their lives from mid-2019.
"You don't want it to become something that can happen to anybody, you don't want it to become anyone who is with depression or that kind of thing can do this," she said.
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[glockman]

deleted

 

[glockman]

sad.

Perhaps the pap should strive for the Swiss standard for dying instead? I am sure may sinkies would welcome this.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Perhaps the pap should strive for the Swiss standard for dying instead? I am sure may sinkies would welcome this.

Yes like in Soylent Green,,at least the 'patients' die with dignity. Better than being invalid and bed ridden and suffering in age care,,,,if i become like that,,,euthanasia is a benefit to me,,and dying peacefully is a blessing,,,,death is part of life,,deal with it

 

[glockman]

Yes like in Soylent Green,,at least the 'patients' die with dignity. Better than being invalid and bed ridden and suffering in age care,,,,if i become like that,,,euthanasia is a benefit to me,,and dying peacefully is a blessing,,,,death is part of life,,deal with it

Euthanasia is a benefit to me too. A benefit to everyone, to die with dignity.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Euthanasia is a benefit to me too. A benefit to everyone, to die with dignity.

Yes,,,but the gahmen and left wing bleeding heart liberal fuckwits and medical corporations do not want it implemented because it will make it harder for the pap to steal the peoples's move, the medical corporations and age care providers will go bankrupt,,,those gahmen ministries that looks into age care will down size. Overall there will be improvement to peoples livelihood but these medical sectors etc will lose money. So rest assured they will want their interest to be looked after.

 

[Leongsam]

Nembutal
WEDNESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2017 BY MRTD

Pentobarbital is in a group of drugs called barbiturates. Pentobarbital slows the activity of your brain and nervous system.

Pentobarbital is used short-term to treat insomnia. Pentobarbital is also used as an emergency treatment for seizures, and to cause you to fall asleep for surgery.
One brand name for this drug is Nembutal, best known as the only injectable form of pentobarbital used for executions of convicted criminals (USA) and for euthanasia of humans (high dose) and animals.

Hundreds risk jail to import illegal drug

Nembutal drug promoted by euthanasia campaigners as a peaceful way to die is easily being illegally imported into Australia.
Known as the “peaceful pill”, barbiturate Nembutal is promoted by the euthanasia movement as the best and most peaceful way to end your life.
Most have bought the illicit drug online from China, a country that has come to dominate the market.

The drug kills within an hour of being consumed.

“There are very few lethal drugs and the best lethal drug is Nembutal,” euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke told a recent workshop.
“I’ve been with a lot of people who have died using this drug, it just seemed to get into to a deeper and deeper sleep and then finally stop breathing.
“And for those watching they see this as the most peaceful of deaths, it certainly looks to be.
“Be careful, because it’s illegal.”
The penalty for importing or possessing Nembutal is a prison sentence or a fine of up to $825,000.

Purchasing Nembutal Online

In Australia, it is illegal (import or possess) to purchase any form of Nembutal.
There are many reports of internet scams from Australian’s who have lost hundreds of dollars trying to buy Nembutal online.
There are also major concerns about the quality of product coming from countries like China and Mexico.

Peaceful Pill
Members of Peaceful Pill Handbook can access information about purchasing Nembutal online and strategies to help keep you safe.

• Peaceful Pill Handbook

If you or someone you know requires help you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, visit Beyond Blue or young people can visit Headspace.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Nembutal
WEDNESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2017 BY MRTD

Pentobarbital is in a group of drugs called barbiturates. Pentobarbital slows the activity of your brain and nervous system.

Pentobarbital is used short-term to treat insomnia. Pentobarbital is also used as an emergency treatment for seizures, and to cause you to fall asleep for surgery.
One brand name for this drug is Nembutal, best known as the only injectable form of pentobarbital used for executions of convicted criminals (USA) and for euthanasia of humans (high dose) and animals.

Hundreds risk jail to import illegal drug

Nembutal drug promoted by euthanasia campaigners as a peaceful way to die is easily being illegally imported into Australia.
Known as the “peaceful pill”, barbiturate Nembutal is promoted by the euthanasia movement as the best and most peaceful way to end your life.
Most have bought the illicit drug online from China, a country that has come to dominate the market.

The drug kills within an hour of being consumed.

“There are very few lethal drugs and the best lethal drug is Nembutal,” euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke told a recent workshop.
“I’ve been with a lot of people who have died using this drug, it just seemed to get into to a deeper and deeper sleep and then finally stop breathing.
“And for those watching they see this as the most peaceful of deaths, it certainly looks to be.
“Be careful, because it’s illegal.”
The penalty for importing or possessing Nembutal is a prison sentence or a fine of up to $825,000.

Purchasing Nembutal Online

In Australia, it is illegal (import or possess) to purchase any form of Nembutal.
There are many reports of internet scams from Australian’s who have lost hundreds of dollars trying to buy Nembutal online.
There are also major concerns about the quality of product coming from countries like China and Mexico.

Peaceful Pill
Members of Peaceful Pill Handbook can access information about purchasing Nembutal online and strategies to help keep you safe.

• Peaceful Pill Handbook

If you or someone you know requires help you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, visit Beyond Blue or young people can visit Headspace.

The gahmens and the medical corporations are really cruel,,to maximise and be parasites to the people,,they rather enrich themselves and let the patients suffer,,,

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Ozland now taking steps to address the euthanasia issue,,,,I hope it does not get derailed by the interest groups that want to be parasitic to its victims.

Voluntary euthanasia inquiry announced in Queensland, issue must be confronted Premier says
By Gail Burke and Laura Gartry
Updated about an hour ago

Media player: "Space" to play, "M" to mute, "left" and "right" to seek.










VIDEO: Queensland Premier orders inquiry into end-of-life care (ABC News)
RELATED STORY: 'Suicide or Switzerland': Dying woman faces dire choice with no change to euthanasia laws
Queensland's Premier has ordered an inquiry into end-of-life care, including the issue of voluntary euthanasia, with Queensland the last state in the country to debate the issue.

If you need to talk to someone, call:

• Lifeline on 13 11 14
• Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800
• MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
• Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
• Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
• Headspace on 1800 650 890
• QLife on 1800 184 527

Annastacia Palaszczuk has told the Labor Party Conference in Brisbane the issue must be confronted.

She said the parliamentary health committee would lead the examination, which will also look at aged care and palliative care.

"Following the vote on the termination of pregnancy bill the parliamentary health committee will begin examining all issues to do with what's known as end-of-life care," she said.

"I have watched carefully as other jurisdictions have faced this issue head-on.

"I have personally listened to those who have watched their loved ones suffer … and I too have watched my own family suffer."​

Ms Palaszczuk said the inquiry would also look at the broader issue of the cost and complexity of aged care in Queensland.

"We must continue to show the courage and leadership to confront issues that have been avoided for too long," she said.

She said people wanted to know about appropriate staff ratios, the quality of food, how to deal with paperwork and disposing of the family home.

"Everyone wants to know their loved ones get the best possible support, care and services," she said.

Assisted dying should not be a priority issue: LNP
The State Opposition questioned the need for the inquiry.

Deputy Leader Tim Mander said assisted dying should not be a priority issue for the Government.

PHOTO: Opposition spokesman Tim Mander said it was too early to say whether MPs would be given a conscience vote on the issue. (ABC News)


"This is a really personal and emotive issue. We agree that our aged and palliative care services need to be improved and we think that's where the focus should be."

The LNP's official policy is against euthanasia.

Mr Mander said it was far too early to say whether MPs would be given a conscience vote on any legislation drafted on the issue.

"These things are often not yes/no answers … that's why they're very complex and there's layers of layers with regards to considering these things," he said

"We think the Government has other things it should be focusing on. Things about cost of living issues, and traffic and congestion issues."

Cherish Life Queensland vice-president Alan Baker said he supported the inquiry looking into palliative care, but did not support euthanasia.

"We think that palliative care is underfunded. Palliative care is the true form of assisted dying. Euthanasia or physician-assisting dying is assisted killing," he said.

"It is impossible to have proper safeguards … euthanasia can be the ultimate form of elder or disability abuse.

"We are concerned that the health committee as it is currently constituted with one Green on it, is not a balanced composition. There are members of parliament on that committee with pre-determined positions."

Ms Palaszczuk said she would also have the issue added to the COAG national agenda so it could be discussed nationally.

The Premier had previously said she wanted to see how Victoria's assisted dying laws worked before moving ahead with any inquiry or changes to Queensland law.

From 2019, doctor-assisted death will be legal in Victoria and an inquiry is underway through the West Australian Parliament.

In South Australia, voluntary euthanasia was knocked back for the 15th time two years ago.

It was also defeated in Tasmania in May 2017, after a third attempt to get it through Parliament.

Topics: euthanasia, community-and-society, human-interest, people, laws, state-parliament, parliament,activism-and-lobbying, government-and-politics, suicide, death, health, qld, brisbane-4000, australia

First posted about 3 hours ago

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Its soo bloody obvious that old age is a curse and yet ppl still want to cling to life,,,,guess common sense does not prevail..

Commentary: Disease, isolation and neglect, the aged lives of quiet desperation you don't see
Is living past the age of 80 a success or fail? One observer discusses the darker side of ageing.
image: data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==
(File photo: AFP/Behrouz Mehri)
By Paul Higgs
By and Chris Gilleard
02 Sep 2018 03:19PM (Updated: 02 Sep 2018 03:20PM)
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LONDON: While the ageing of society has become one of the givens in today’s world, less is made of the lived experience of the very elderly in society.
And although there is some suggestion that the much trumpeted steady expansion of the human lifespan has begun to slow down, the numbers of very old people continue to grow.

Advertisement

Despite this, debates about the resourcing of universal health and social care tend not to examine the costs associated with extreme ageing. Yet the problem of chronic conditions and multiple morbidity is greatest among octogenarians and nonagenarians.
Very old age, if commented upon, is presented as if it were a kind of extreme sports competition.
Centenarians are celebrated simply for reaching 100. Nonagenarians hit the news when they run a mile, climb a mountain or pilot a plane. Otherwise, silence reigns.
Yet the focus of most social care is on people aged 80 and over – a group for whom care is needed because health cures have failed them.

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The morbidities and infirmities that beset the extremely aged are not so much ignored as abandoned to the efforts of medical services and social care.
There are a number of ways that such “hyper-ageing” can be approached and understood.
One view celebrates the fact that the more and more people can expect to live for 100 years or more. Another sees it as an apocalyptic disaster, as agedness “swamps” the resources of society needed to maintain itself.
Yet another view juggles between the successes of more years of healthy active life and the failings of more years of living with disability and infirmity.
READ: People ready to retire later but preparing older workers will require more than reskilling, a commentary

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File photo of an elderly woman in a wheelchair. (Photo: AFP)

DISEASE AND DISABILITY CONTINUE TO AFFLICT THE ELDERLY
Across the world, the burden of disease has been receding. But this is more the case for illnesses affecting younger people and those that are likely to lead to death, rather than disability.
By contrast, conditions that are degenerative and disabling more often than causing death remain largely unchanged.
Rates of osteo-arthritis, for example, which disables but does not kill you, have been rising over the last 25 years. Rates for Alzheimer’s disease, which disables more than it causes death, have also grown but in a less pronounced manner.
Although some chronic conditions affecting older people, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which kills and disables you, have been falling, the really large falls in disease prevalence have been in conditions affecting the young, such as cases of diarrhoea and related common infectious diseases, which have dropped remarkably.
In Denmark, one of the few national surveys of nonagenarians was conducted around the turn of this century. The researchers found that the majority contacted had some disability and that women were more often affected than men.
The same researchers also observed that “about 10 per cent of the octogenarians and more than 55 per cent of the centenarians live in nursing homes, while dependency rises from approximately 30 per cent to 70 per cent, and the prevalence of dementia rises from approximately seven per cent to 50 per cent”.
In the UK, one study of 85-year-olds found a median number of five diseases per person, with more than half suffering from hearing impairment, just over half from osteoarthritis, and just under half suffering from high blood pressure. Just under a quarter had some form of cancer.
Yet, less than 5 per cent told the researchers that their health was poor: Most said it was good.
READ: Growing old is not a slow march toward obscurity, a commentary
THE SILENT ISSUE OF INEQUALITY IN OLD AGE
This last point emphasises how extreme ageing presents issues that easily go unremarked upon. Its problems are largely confined within the individual household or in long-term care institutions.
Wider society scarcely acknowledges these problems and most of those on the receiving end, whether carers or people being cared for, are simply too overwhelmed to do much about them.
Although not closed off to the public, the nursing home remains more present in the imagination than in most people’s everyday experience.

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A resident in a private nursing home. (Photo: Linette Lim)

The social networks of the frail elderly, whether living at home or in a nursing home, tend to be so much smaller than those of the rest of the population.
Most people over 80 live alone. They often have only a few people to talk with.
Meantime, stories of abuse, or TV footage of the inside of the nursing home paint a grim picture to all who watch, read or hear them.
These isolation and neglect of these spaces help preserve the distance between an “us” who are, if we are ageing, ageing well clear of such scenarios, and a “them”, who are not.
To be old and frail is not an identity to be acclaimed and the old and frail are generally unable or unwilling to represent themselves as such.
For many of these people, life can be difficult. Estimates suggest that chronic pain “in people aged 85 years or older is common”, affecting the majority of people from this age group.
Aged lives of quiet desperation are sadly not rare, nor are most lived in the heroic terms of the marathon-running nonagenarian that hits the news.
In drawing attention to this, we are not attempting to promote further victimhood. What we hope to achieve is to cast a little light upon the darker side of our ageing and of our ageing societies. Old age should not be sought out just for the sake of it.
Paul Higgs is Professor of Sociology of Ageing at University College London. Chris Gilleard is visiting research fellow in psychiatry This commentary first appeared on The Conversation.




Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...e-elderly-disease-disability-numbers-10516926

 

[Hypocrite-The]

Long life is overated... Soylent Green option please. Soylent Green is FOR People