The baby boomers are getting older

"The baby boomers are getting older, and will stay older for longer. And they will run right into the dementia firing range. How will a society cope? Especially a society that can't so readily rely on those stable family relationships that traditionally provided the backbone of care?" ~ Terry Pratchett


How will a society cope?

Re: The baby boomers are getting older

They will I think realise assisted suicide is best, we will be asked to make a decision before we are ill that can be acted on when we become ill. Not a pleasant scenario but better than some I can think of.

Re: The baby boomers are getting older

I agree with you Julie. I am sure many would prefer to go in peace
than have the dreadful illness wiping your mind and personality from you.
I have always said I would never go in a home and I still feel that way.
I am not bothered about sitting there doing nothing when I have been
such a fit and healthy person who likes getting up and going somewhere.
It wouldn't matter if I committed suicide as I don't have any insurance
so we will see what happens in the future. Nothing to be frightened
of in dying its how you die that makes the difference.
I think that's what Mr Pratchett is trying to say.

Re: The baby boomers are getting older

This is what happens, unfortunately, when cures are found for ailments that would have killed us off naturally. I sometimes think dementia is a defense against the reality of reaching an age beyond which we should be coping with, nature's way of stopping us from thinking about dying.
My sis, who died in February, said that when your time's up, it's up!
I would hate to be kept alive without my faculties! Shoot me someone please!

Re: The baby boomers are getting older

I never thought of it like that - "sometimes think dementia is a defence against the reality of reaching an age beyond which we should be coping with, nature's way of stopping us from thinking about dying." A nice thought to have I think. Makes the idea of dementia less frightening.

Re: The baby boomers are getting older

I agree with Twizz we now cure pneumonia that used to carry off a lot of older people, the old mans friend it used to be called. Personally have a friend who has cancer, they first found it 20 years ago, she has gradually lost bits of herself to surgery, lung, breasts (one at a time), kidney, part of her liver, spleen, large part of her stomach, womb, and bladder. She hobbles around had numerous amounts of radiation and chemo. If she says she has had enough the doctors poo poo what she says and they carry on treating her. Given a choice she would have died in her 50s but now in her 70s she has been diagnosed with dementia, still they are treating her, when her heart stopped they brought her back. Why ? makes no sense to me... I have told everyone do not let that happen to me let me go.

Re: The baby boomers are getting older

After my sister's experiences of about 3 years of chemo and the absolute torture she went through, unless it was a simple case of removing it I really wouldn't want my last years to be like that.

Re: The baby boomers are getting older

...not very well. It doesn't now and I can't see things improving.

Re: The baby boomers are getting older

Mental illness costs the UK more than £70BILLION a year and 33% of over-65s will die with dementia.
Dementia alone costs the economy more than Cancer & Heart Disease put together.

The NHS and the social care system is highly dependent on unpaid carers, so much so that if they went on strike, the NHS & social care services would collapse overnight!

The NHS has the potential to co-ordinate care into one single, "joined-up" system but it's being forced down the route of "marketisation"

Politicians are speaking of a single health and social care system with a single budget where "whole person care" is delivered by a single team yet none are actually promising more money, despite the ever increasing demand!

I think that the NHS is highly likely to hit a wall before the next general election because of the pressure it's under now.

I personally hate the term Baby Boomers but if things get much worse more blame will be heaped on us and we will suffer even more than we do now. stevmk2

Re: The baby boomers are getting older

We, that is husband and me have all our wishes in our wills and power of attorney things and also the living will thing that states our wishes about what to do with us if we do have the ability to make up our minds. We trust them and our daughters to do the right thing by us.