ABSTRACT
Growth of the elderly population and shortage of caregivers place increased pressure on health care systems in North America, Europe, and Japan. Aging rapidly, these societies are on their way to what the U.S. President’s Council on Bioethics called ‘mass geriatric’ societies with ‘more long-lived individuals than ever before in human history’ ( President’s Council on Bioethics 2005, p. xvii). The problem is not so much the absolute numbers of elderly people but the ratio between older and younger people. This poses a problem for elderly care. Of course many of us welcome a longer life span. But although we age, we do not always age healthy: the ‘oldest’ old (80+, 85+) often suffer from chronic diseases, such as dementia, before they die. Hence, there is a need for more caregivers for long-term care. But it is unlikely that children take up these tasks:
precisely because many individuals have taken advantage of modern freedom’s opportunities for education, careers, and geographic mobility, many elderly persons will live in greater isolation from loved ones, separated from children and grandchildren who have settled elsewhere or whose lives are defined primarily by work and school. (President’s Council on Bioethics, p. 2)
