The Importance Of Assisted Family Care

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Recommended: Attitudes of society towards older individuals

Why do the elderly go to retirement homes when they become dependent on basic care? A common practice for many people living in the United States is to arrange for their parents to move to assisted living apartments or nursing homes when they feel they are unable to take care of themselves. It has become socially acceptable to pay someone else to care for family members. Unless the care that is needed is beyond the scope of an individual, such as constant medical supervision, I believe that it should be the family’s responsibility to provide care to the individual, but this differs with each family. This idea of "oweing" your parents something because of what they have done for you is an idea that many scholars disagree with. On the contrary, they claim that is "not debt but gratitude" that children support their parents (Miller, 2003, p.3).
Aging in America
As more and more Americans are living well into their 70’s, the children of these ageing parents are left with the responsibility of taking care of them. "By 2030 approximately 80 million Americans, or 20 percent of the population, are projected to be sixty-five or older, and 2.3 percent of the population will be eighty-five and older" (Bookman & Kimbrel, 2011 pp. 118). Several variables will determine what service and type of care the elderly can reasonably expect. These include health services such as Medicare, Medicaid, social security, government's involvement in regulating health care, and society in general.
In today's busy society where most homes are dual income families, finding time to take on a full time caregiver position is difficult. Not only will doctor's appointments, grocery shopping, medical bills and finances take up several hours a week, but also the one...

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Center for Disease Control and Prevention, (2011) Life Expectancy, Retrieved June 20th, 2014 from www.cdc.gov/nchs.fastats/life-expecatncy.htm
Greenhalgh, S. & Bongaarts, J. (1987) Fertility Policy in China: Future Options
Science 235:1167-1172.
Miller SC. Filial obligation, Kant’s duty of beneficence, and need. In: Humber James M, Almeder Robert F., editors. Care of the aged. Totowa: Humana-Pr. Biomedical Ethics Reviews; 2003. pp. 169–198
Petrowski, Elaine (2010) AARP custom prefabs, Retrieved June 18th, 2014 from http://www.aarp.org/home-garden/housing/info-10-2010/custom_prefab_adus_the_home_store.html

Stuifberger, M. & Van Delden, J. (2010) Filial obligations to elderly parents: a duty to care? National center for biotechnology information, 14, 63–71. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3015170/

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