Old Folks’ Homes

[Richey Edwards]

50 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

That's it in a nutshell. Care and profit are not compatible priorities.

Absolutely. 

Plus have you seen the prices these places charge? For those prices I'd expect the place to at least be properly staffed and maintained.

[Duszek]

My plan is to see out my days at the Cistercian monastery at Grande Chartreuse, contemplating the eternal and making liqueur.
having done no research, I’m assuming it’ll be fine just to rock up and announce my presence.

 

[19QOS19]

There is so much wrong with our care system. The biggest things for me were lack of training, low pay and understaffing when it should really be the opposite. I did a few months in a severe dementia unit as part of my nursing course and it was a real eye-opener/a sad experience. Feeding times were easily one of the worst parts and one time in particular stuck with me. There was a bitch in the dining room helping feed other residents and I was feeding a woman who one day could manage herself and other days just wouldn't function (because that's what this horrible disease does!). I was helping her and this cow said "she can do it herself". Obviously I continued to feed her but I felt quite sad thinking about this arsehole's attitude. There wouldn't always be someone there to feed her and if this is her attitude then the woman is clearly going to starve. It was 2 staff members to 9 residents; 5 of which required the hoist. It really wasn't practical. Sadly, if folk are paid buttons their compassion only goes so far working in really difficult conditions. My last job was a mental health unit and I had one training course in 7 years. My knowledge of mental health was from before I worked there.

On putting family members in a care home: if you have the view of "I'd never do that to a family member" I expect you have no experience of dementia other than snippets on the tele. It's an unbelievably difficult thing to live with and I take my hat off to anyone caring for someone with it 24/7. I couldn't do it for long.

[Richey Edwards]

32 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

There is so much wrong with our care system. The biggest things for me were lack of training, low pay and understaffing when it should really be the opposite. I did a few months in a severe dementia unit as part of my nursing course and it was a real eye-opener/a sad experience. Feeding times were easily one of the worst parts and one time in particular stuck with me. There was a bitch in the dining room helping feed other residents and I was feeding a woman who one day could manage herself and other days just wouldn't function (because that's what this horrible disease does!). I was helping her and this cow said "she can do it herself". Obviously I continued to feed her but I felt quite sad thinking about this arsehole's attitude. There wouldn't always be someone there to feed her and if this is her attitude then the woman is clearly going to starve. It was 2 staff members to 9 residents; 5 of which required the hoist. It really wasn't practical. Sadly, if folk are paid buttons their compassion only goes so far working in really difficult conditions. My last job was a mental health unit and I had one training course in 7 years. My knowledge of mental health was from before I worked there.

On putting family members in a care home: if you have the view of "I'd never do that to a family member" I expect you have no experience of dementia other than snippets on the tele. It's an unbelievably difficult thing to live with and I take my hat off to anyone caring for someone with it 24/7. I couldn't do it for long.

Yeah, there are people I've met in the care industry who have made me wonder how they still work there. Such bad attitudes.

At one home I worked in in Ayr, there was a culture of getting people up and out of bed at 5AM if they were wet or soiled, "so that dayshift have less people to get up".  I was told that I wasn't doing my job probably because I refused to do that.

I think that's awful and was basically punishing people for incontinence. I put in a complaint to the care inspectorate and most of those people aren't working in care anymore.

[Miguel Sanchez]

13 hours ago, Shotgun said:

When I was at primary school, we were forced to go to an old folks home to sing Christmas carols to the inmates.

You just reminded me that I did this once too. My only abiding memory was how utterly nonplussed by it they all looked, men and women. 

Regardless of my familial situation, if I reach an age or state of health where I'm unable to look after myself it'll be a large bottle of vodka and some painkillers for me, I think.

[Richey Edwards]

Just now, Miguel Sanchez said:

Regardless of my familial situation, if I reach an age or state of health where I'm unable to look after myself it'll be a large bottle of vodka and some painkillers for me, I think.

I would say the same, but if family history of heart disease and cancer is anything to go by, the extremities of old age aren't something I need to worry about.

[Shotgun]

 

6 minutes ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

You just reminded me that I did this once too. My only abiding memory was how utterly nonplussed by it they all looked, men and women. 

Regardless of my familial situation, if I reach an age or state of health where I'm unable to look after myself it'll be a large bottle of vodka and some painkillers for me, I think.

I've written this here before but my ideal death would be to outlive my wife and any dogs we might have. I'll write some snail mail letters to a select few people then hike up into the mountains. Get well off the trail, then sit with my back against a tree with my face to the sun. I'll have a flask of something good and a bottle of pills. The scavenging beasties are welcome to recycle me.

[101]

2 minutes ago, Shotgun said:

 

I've written this here before but my ideal death would be to outlive my wife and any dogs we might have. I'll write some snail mail letters to a select few people then hike up into the mountains. Get well off the trail, then sit with my back against a tree with my face to the sun. I'll have a flask of something good and a bottle of pills. The scavenging beasties are welcome to recycle me.

It's sad that so few people get to die on their own terms. I would certainly hope by the time I'm old I can choose to die in Scotland when I want to.

[DA Baracus]

Absolutely mental that assisted death isn't legal here, and indeed everywhere.

It's no kind of life to have to sit alone, confused and frightened, feeling like a burden to your family.

It's no kind of life to be in pain and not be allowed to die.

Why is there such a stigma about letting people with terminal illness die? Who does it serve to keep them alive when they don't want to be? 

[Boo Khaki]

It keeps getting batted back and forth between politicians, doctors, and the judiciary.

Politicians don't want to take the PR hit of facilitating death so insist it's for doctors, doctors say they can't act without a change in the law otherwise they'd be prosecuted, law lords say they are impotent without an instruction from the Commons.

It's down to the politicians being cowards, and caring more about their own electability than human suffering.

[Shotgun]

We really do have a curious attitude to the sanctity of life, don't we? People 'must' be kept alive whether it's their wish or not. Some have been revived against their will because the relatives feel it's a sin to 'let' them die. There are those who believe that every pregnancy must be taken to term, even in cases or rape, incest or extreme risk to the mother. All life is sacred. Right up until some twat of a politician wants to drop bombs on a country which is no threat to us and all of a sudden they're waving flags and shouting about patriotism and doing God's work.

You find me a pro-lifer who was opposed to the invasion of Iraq and I'll listen to what they have to say. I've never come across one yet.

[Boo Khaki]

Here's a link to the commentary the last time this was debated in the House -

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2015/sep/11/mps-debate-and-vote-on-the-assisted-dying-bill-politics-live?page=with:block-55f29bd0e4b0fd3fbcd779cf

Tommy Sheppard sums up my thoughts on this. The next time you meet a Christian, or a religious type of any other persuasion who is insistent they don't try to force their beliefs on others, show them this as one of countless examples of where they are categorically wrong.

It boils my fucking piss than some of my firmly atheist friends and relatives will no doubt have to suffer a slow, agonising death, in large part thanks to a bunch of entirely cynical MP's hiding behind 'God' as their excuse for abdicating responsibility. As @Shotgun says, no doubt these bampots will be on the other side of the coin when it comes to voting to curtail Welfare Benefits, or bombing Syrian civilians etc. If only we could have a truly secular State where religiosity was an automatic bar to government at any level.

[tamthebam]

55 minutes ago, Shotgun said:

 

 The scavenging beasties are welcome to recycle me.

the phrase "scavenging beasties" made me think that if you die in Carnoustie you could feed the Smudger and his pal I suppose... 

[Alert Mongoose]

Have to admit I’m very much content with the hari-cari but surely the tricky bit is when you decide you’ve lost enough of your faculties to go for it. What if you leave it too late?

Would you be happy for your relatives to be given the power to make that decision for you? That’s surely where it starts getting tricky.

[19QOS19]

Have to admit I’m very much content with the hari-cari but surely the tricky bit is when you decide you’ve lost enough of your faculties to go for it. What if you leave it too late?
Would you be happy for your relatives to be given the power to make that decision for you? That’s surely where it starts getting tricky.

It's such a minefield tbh. I'm pro-euthanasia but I do get some of the arguements against it. Your example being a good one.

FWIW in regards to dementia. I've always said I'd much rather get it than my wife. It's such a successfully horrible disease that it does as much damage to the family as it does the patient. I think I'd sooner live in ignorance with it than see a loved one go through it.

[Boo Khaki]

There's an important distinction to be made between Euthanasia, and Assisted Dying. 

AD proponents, as I understand it, want to see similar to the situation in Switzerland, where the option is available only to people with a diagnosis from a specific list, and only at a point where their illness has progressed to a certain degree, but they are still capable of administering the drugs themselves. 

I don't know of a single serious AD advocate I've met who wants this extended to folk with Alzheimer's etc who are beyond the point of having the capacity to make the decision themselves, or being able to administer without the aid of another party.

You have a fair point with conditions that lead to a decline in cognitive faculties, but I think that isn't necessarily a component part of AD laws anyway, it's probably more likely something that would be covered by Euthanasia legislation, and that's a totally different debate altogether.

[HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows]

1 hour ago, Shotgun said:

 

I've written this here before but my ideal death would be to outlive my wife and any dogs we might have. I'll write some snail mail letters to a select few people then hike up into the mountains. Get well off the trail, then sit with my back against a tree with my face to the sun. I'll have a flask of something good and a bottle of pills. The scavenging beasties are welcome to recycle me.

A Sky burial, sounds mint to me.

[19QOS19]

A Sky burial, sounds mint to me.

I'd much rather see Sky buried just to watch the EPL crumble.

[Jacksgranda]

4 hours ago, Richey Edwards said:

Absolutely. 

Plus have you seen the prices these places charge? For those prices I'd expect the place to at least be properly staffed and maintained.

But then how would they make a profit?

[Jacksgranda]

1 hour ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

You just reminded me that I did this once too. My only abiding memory was how utterly nonplussed by it they all looked, men and women. 

Regardless of my familial situation, if I reach an age or state of health where I'm unable to look after myself it'll be a large bottle of vodka and some painkillers for me, I think.

If you're unable to look after yourself you might not be able to get the vodka and painkillers.

1 hour ago, Shotgun said:

 

I've written this here before but my ideal death would be to outlive my wife and any dogs we might have. I'll write some snail mail letters to a select few people then hike up into the mountains. Get well off the trail, then sit with my back against a tree with my face to the sun. I'll have a flask of something good and a bottle of pills. The scavenging beasties are welcome to recycle me.

Again, you might not be capable of doing that. I'm now at a stage I can barely get up our front path. Getting "well off the trail" would be impossible for me.