ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to explore some of the implications of dependency for those who need a greater degree of care in the last phase of their lives than heretofore, and for those who provide such care. But, first, let us clear away any possible misunderstanding about the use of the word ‘care’ and the associated term ‘dependency’. Donne’s perfect expression of human interdependence ‘no man is an island, entire of itself’ has been trivialised by over-use. 1 It remains a clear, beautiful metaphor to express the fact that human life is meaningless without opportunities to care and to be cared for, to have others depend on us and to be dependent upon others.
