Cultural Relativism In Nursing Home Analysis

Life seems to get busier and more hectic as each generation passes. As generations continue to age, a common dilemma arises that must be resolved: whether or not to put their aging loved ones into a nursing home. Nursing homes have become excessively more popular as the elderly continue to have longer life expectancies. Nursing homes at first were only for those who were poor and had no family to care for them, but now has become an option for families who simply cannot sacrifice the time and effort to care for their elderly loved ones. Morality and ethics is a huge factor in the difficult decision, which many moral factors are considered. In order to analyze how to effectively decide whether or not to put an elder in a nursing home, two theories

cultural relativism and utilitarianism will be utilized in order to reach a moral decision.
In order to successfully analyze the correct moral decision for the placement of family members in nursing homes, the benefits and the common negatives must be discussed. Nursing homes provide families with the ability to know their elderly loved ones are being taken care of without sacrificing time from their lives. Those who are in the middle of possibly their career development or their family life in general. Also, rather than family, who may not have the essential experience, taking care of elderly family members, trained professionals will be supervising them around the clock. Also, when you place your loved ones in a nursing home they are essentially put into a community, with other elderly people who can all relate to similar issues with one another. This sense of community cannot be established with family members, due to how in a majority of cases, there is a significant age difference between family members and the elderly. Communities in nursing homes allow the elderly to connect with others that are not necessarily their family. The common negatives of nursing homes are widely known, such as insufficient care, unhygienic conditions and workers taking advantage of the residents. In addition, elderly loved ones feel abandoned by their families and may hold that resentment towards not only their family when they come for visitation, but those around them in the facility. In order to have a correct moral and ethical decision, all factors surrounding the dilemma must be considered, whether it is the positive and negative misconceptions or an outlook of what that moral decision will lead to.
The first theory that can be sufficiently used to analyze on whether or not to put an elderly loved one into a nursing home is cultural relativism.

Cultural relativism is a theory, which entails what a culture, believes is what is correct for that particular culture, each culture has different views on moral issues. For example, abortion is permissible by American culture and is tolerated by the majority of the culture. While, Catholic culture is against abortion, and is not tolerated by those who belong to the culture. Cultural relativism is a theory a lot of individuals obey when it comes to making moral decisions. What their culture believes is instilled over generations, and frequently has an enormous influence since their families with those cultural beliefs have raised them. With these beliefs, certain cultures have different answers for different moral dilemmas and at times, it is difficult to decide on a specific moral issue because the individual may belong to multiple

cultures.
Putting loved ones in a nursing home is an extremely difficult decision individuals with aging parents, grandparents or relatives have to eventually decipher between. They can either take care of them at home or put them in a nursing home. The options are ultimately up to what the family believes. Cultural relativism is typically used in order to make the correct moral decision. A large amount of individuals that have to make this decision rely on what values they were grown up with. For example, the Hispanic culture is most times entirely against putting the elderly in nursing homes due to the negative misconceptions that are rumored to happen in "all nursing homes". Of course, only a small number of nursing homes can be deemed to have horrible conditions, but one must research and tour each one to know which each one has to offer. Most low-income families also tend to not put their loved ones in nursing homes either. Low-income families have a tough time financing the astronomical price that is associated with nursing homes. Also, like Hispanic cultures, low income families tend to be more willing to care for their loved ones due to more time available to care for their loved ones due to either one income families or unemployment. While lower income and Hispanic cultures tend to shy away from nursing homes, the newer generation and also middle to high-income cultures tend to use nursing homes more frequently. The middle class culture most times have extremely limited time to be able to care for their elderly family members. While, high-income cultures tend to lean towards nursing homes due to the sole fact that they can afford it, and it is readily available to them.
The issue that arises with cultural relativism is that there are a variety of answers for moral dilemmas.

Each culture has a different solution for a moral issue and there is an often conflict between cultures which leads to intolerance. Also, if the individuals deliberating are a part of two cultures, then an ultimate decision to decide on whether or not to put elderly loved ones in nursing homes will come about with some conflict and differences with the culture they belong to. For example, a high-income Hispanic has the income in order to finance the costs of the nursing home, but their Hispanic culture tells them that it is not right to abandon their family just because they are now older. In this case, one would have to rely on a different method in order to reach a moral decision without the consideration of their cultures values and views involved. Cultural relativism tends to be flawed when more than one culture is involved in deliberation, in order to successfully make a correct moral decision, we will compare cultural relativism's various solutions based on its cultures against utilitarianism's principle of

utility.
Utilitarianism is a theory that relies on the principle of utility in order to evaluate moral situations. The principle of utility is a concept in which attempts to maximize the most people’s utility as possible when making a decision. Utilitarianism is extremely popular because it considers the effects on others rather than focusing on the effects on just yourself. Placing the elderly in a nursing home in a utilitarian's view can be permissible. By putting these elderly relatives in nursing homes you're relieving the stress one may obtain from the constant struggle one may have to endure from taking on such an enormous responsibility. Admitting elderly relatives that cannot live on their own will make their family a lot happier, because they now will know their loved one will be under surveillance and will be assisted by professionals rather than be in danger on their own. Also although, it may seem selfish, family members also may be happier that they do not have to sacrifice a lot of time and take on a lot of burden in order to care for their elder relatives. An elderly person at first may not be happy when they are put into a nursing home, which may defeat utilitarianism's purpose, but as they become accustomed then their happiness may regress due to the new community they will be exposed to. With utilitarianism, utilizing nursing homes is permissible due to the fact that most people will have satisfaction, all of the family members will be at ease about the safety and well-being of their loved ones, and their elder family member, although, will not necessarily always be happy about being put into a nursing home, they will eventually become accustomed to living at one.
An issue that may arise with utilitarianism is that it does not always necessarily consider what is right; rather it considers what will bring the most pleasure to those involved. Simply sticking an aging family member into a nursing home would make them unhappy, and isn't necessarily always the right thing to do. According to utilitarianism, it is the right thing to do just because of the amount of pleasure you'll experience compared to caring for the old family member on your own. In addition, disregarding the actual older persons feelings since they would necessarily be the only person experiencing disutility from this situation, is also not right to do. This family member will be resentful towards their family and be extremely unhappy for some time if they are aware of what their family is doing to them.
When cultural relativism's solutions and utilitarianism's solutions are compared, one theory is more superior compared to the other. Cultural relativism, although popular amongst many around the world, is less efficient when applying its principles to the nursing home dilemma. What a culture believes isn't necessarily as important as the immediate needs of a family member that needs professional care. Although, many use cultural relativism as a guideline to their actions, it should not be the sole answer for this dilemma. Utilitarianism, although has some flaws, is a better theory to handle this situation. It analyzes what the satisfaction will be from admitting a family member into a nursing home and the well being of everyone involved. Although, utilitarianism disregards what necessarily realistically will be right to do in regards to the feelings of the older person, but the most people will be satisfied, and their utility outweighs the elder’s disutility. In order to develop a correct moral decision in the nursing home dilemma, the better theory to utilize is utilitarianism. Cultural relativism should be used as a guideline, but not necessarily as a solid method of answering this solution. If cultural relativism were to be used, it should be used to sway one way or another after an analysis of the situation by a more suitable theory, such as utilitarianism.