The Antisocial Socialist

I don't know--my mother died after 10 years with Alzheimer's in a care facility, and "the isolation they face, the sorrow of abandonment by loved ones, the anger of being caged within the walls of this institution where their escape attempts are restricted by alarms and wiry smiles" just doesn't capture even the heart of the experience for me.

For instance, the decision to find a locked care facility was made after my mother took up the car keys to leave and stay with friends in Chicago--friends who were dead, driving from where she then lived in Michigan, except she'd forgotten that right then. My bookish brother-in-law had to literally tackle her to take the keys away. Isn't "being caged" more humane?

And the "sorrow of abandonment by loved ones": that includes loved ones who are dead, loved ones who just left the room, and eventually loved ones who are in the room. They are all seen as equally "abandoning" the person whose mind is going. (Because it's always in process, the mind never really gone but rarely really there.)

None of this undermines the author's point about herself and her co-workers. The places we chose had less overwork, less stratification of jobs by race--less stratification of jobs in general-- But we were lucky to be able to get very good places. I know that's not the norm. One thing I had hoped to get out of national healthcare was better elder care for almost everyone.