> Antipsychotic drugs — which for decades have faced criticism as “chemical straitjackets” — are dangerous for older people with dementia, nearly doubling their

> Antipsychotic drugs — which for decades have faced criticism as “chemical straitjackets” — are dangerous for older people with dementia, nearly doubling their chance of death from heart problems, infections, falls and other ailments. But understaffed nursing homes have often used the sedatives so they don’t have to hire more staff to handle residents. This problem will only get worse. A lot of it is driven by demographics: (1) fewer children being born means fewer blood-relatives to share the home care (2) although medical treatments can often improve lifetimes, they can't necessarily improve life quality (3) as people stop dying from ever more diseases (e.g., cancer, cardiovascular disease), they'll start to succumb to psychological and physical ailments resulting from isolation and sedentary lifestyles, and these have no cures - only treatments. (4) people often don't live where they grew up, which means that married couples can face a double-whammy of declining health of both parents, right about the same time and a geographical conflict that gets worse with time. Those claiming the solution is multi-generational households haven't done the math. And I doubt they've attempted to care for a geriatric relative with rapidly-compounding medical conditions while trying to stay afloat financially after having raised a kid or two themselves. And then there's the problem of medical costs that relentlessly rise much faster than inflation, putting ever more pressure on nursing homes, families, and governments. A big squeeze is coming as the boomers enter extreme old age in droves while needing round-the-clock care, possibly for a decade or more, for geriatric conditions without cures.