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My wife is a hospice nurse here in Japan visiting terminally ill patients at their homes. She comes home with many different stories. Some people are incredib
by mattm 11y ago
My wife is a hospice nurse here in Japan visiting terminally ill patients at their homes.
She comes home with many different stories. Some people are incredibly wealthy but their family doesn't want anything to do with them so they basically wait to die alone. Some people are poor and mentally ill and are basically living in dumps with rodents running around. Some people do have good situations in which they are cared for and can die surrounded by loved ones.
My wife is the only person I've met who wants to die young (around 40 or 50). Death is usually hidden from our lives - especially when we're young and only comes up infrequently.
While some people who are poor do use their service due to government subsidies, a lot of people don't and there is no public service for the elderly. Stories like this will become much more common over the next 20 years as a huge proportion of the Japanese populations passes on.
- mc32 11y agoInstead of the elderly living in homes/apartments by themselves, why not try to get them to live in elderly communities where they can engage with other elderpeople and have caregivers oversee their journey into eol. @timhon, I meant as a society, why not invest in elderly communities. Their pop is only going to get older, so it behooves them to address this option. As, a side note, there is a curious phenomenon of relatives going along with the rouse of their dead elders living so they can cash their checks. Seems to be in the news on occasion.
- timhon 11y agothe article said there is a big shortage and a long waiting list.
- jodrellblank 11y agoWhy not put untouchables in communities where they can engage with other untouchables, with software monitors which call robot helpers if there's a problem and they are dying of loneliness and despair unacceptably quickly. As long as it all happens to them, at a distance, and we're not having to get involved, eh?
- intended 11y agoThat's basically segregation/caste systems and the foundation of ensuring that the rest of the population considers it "that groups problem." And a few short steps from "god what is their problem." It's the opposite of what you want a group to do, which is to engage with the problem, internalize it and reduce barriers with other humans.