On Feb 7, 6:33*pm, (Cynic) wrote:
On Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:46:19 +0000, Steve Walker





wrote:
Why should that situation be anyone's problem apart from you, your
friends and your family?
When my wife was in a similar situation, it would certainly have
caused me just as much hardship as it did you *if* I had provided all
the necessary care personally. *There were however plenty of friends
and family members who between them were able and willing to provide
the additional necessary care without significant detriment to
themselves.
The idea that complete strangers had any sort of duty to solve the
problem by paying for her care did not even cross my mind.
My wife's family is from Ireland, she has no family over here (her
parents moved here before she was born and have now died) and we
couldn't really expect her extended family to come and live here for a
very extended period. My parents are well into their seventies and
certainly couldn't help her up and down the stairs or grab her when she
moved and her balance went; or look after our three young kids for
extended periods over many, many months. All our friends are in full
time work or live many miles away. No, I am not making up a scenario
here, this is simply the case.

There are many situations that I can sympathise with, but at the end
of the day I have to take the attitude "tough luck" rather than shell
out to solve everyone else's problems. *I'd love to be able to save
all the starving 3rd World children as well - but pragmatically that
is also "tough luck".

Indeed, you cannot be morally obligated to do what you cannot do,
although it is worth remembering that conditions in the third world
have often been aggravated by our own (i.e. the 'first world's')
actions, and are not just an inevitable product of nature.



If the only people who could be her carers are in Ireland (or Africa
or India or China), then pragmatically there is a decision to be made
as to whether she needs to move to where she can be properly looked
after.

But realistically, that is likely to mean the elderly being moved to a
place away from their families, communities, and culture. The fact
that you could suggest the idea as being a "pragmatic" solution to the
problem, fails to appreciate that part of the problem with 'care' is
that is has a psychological component that is quite distinct from
catering to biological needs.

Realistically, we could hook the elderly up to a machine, by inserting
a feeding tube and urethral and rectal catheters, with an overhead
nozzle providing occasional showers of soapy water and disinfectant,
and on the face of it this would be high-quality and effficient
biological care, and yet there seems to be something missing...



Lots of people have difficult problems to overcome, and I do
not accept that the only solution available is to take more and more
money from the taxpayers.

Indeed, but potentially that means more radical and fundamental
reorganisations of society.