I attended the forum on Aged Care, and told a little of our experiences with Aged Care with mum and dad, and since then I have been to Adelaide. (Mum celebrated her 96th birthday!) and I have had discussions with one of the staff at her nursing home and a recently retired Director of Nursing back here in Brisbane.
There's no doubt that there are major problems in Aged Care in Australia. The picture is pretty bleak.
Currently there are not enough Aged Care beds, not enough money in the system and not enough staff.
Many nursing homes have carers who have come to Australia from other countries. I'm bound to sound a little racist here - but there are major problems where staff come from a different culture.
The reality is, that there must be a major shakeup in the Aged Care Industry. One issue is of course very sensitive and highly emotive, but do we consider some sort of euthanasia? I don't know how many people (in the industry as well as out of it) say that 'we let sick animals die with some dignity, but not humans!'
I have heard two women claim that they have arranged for their daughter "to give them a pill" to end their life, but as I have warned them that they may be sending their daughters to prison, or with guilt that affects them badly. No, I do think we have to take notice more of people like Dr Philip Nitsche who advocates 'Voluntary Euthanasia'.
Surely people with no or very low quality of life should be given the opportunity to die with dignity.
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