Once upon a time, I fervently supported euthanasia legislation. Then, a couple of things happened.
First, we got to see it in practice. It turned out that the ‘slippery slope’ Cassandras were right: ‘safeguards’ were watered down with indecent haste. “Imminent terminal illness with intolerable suffering” became “terminal illness” and “mental anguish”. Eventually, it became ‘on demand’. Age limits were watered down, too: now children are being put down like so many unwanted Christmas puppies.
As for the other end of life, I came to realise just how horribly some people treat their elderly relatives.
I tend to be, perhaps too much, an optimist regarding human nature. Despite my curmudgeonly demeanour, I’m generally inclined to believe well of people until proven otherwise. Which may be why the stark horror of elder abuse comes as such a shock.
And it appears to be getting worse.
Of all institutions, it’s the bastard banks who are bringing it to our attention.
Banks are dobbing in greedy children with “inheritance entitlement” who are ripping off elderly parents during the COVID-19 recession.
Australian Banking Association boss Anna Bligh yesterday warned that elder abuse is on the rise, as broke children demand a financial bailout from retired parents.
She said banks in Queensland were reporting suspicious transactions to the Office of the Public Guardian, which has wider powers than in other states and territories.
“Banks have identified that an account is being used in a way that’s suspicious, and they’ve turned up at houses literally to find elderly people chained to a bed or sleeping in a shed outside,” Ms Bligh told The Sunday Mail.
It’s a sad indictment, surely, when banks are acting as a moral conscience?
“Bank staff are at the frontline of financial abuse – they’re the ones who see their elderly customers in branches being pressured to withdraw money, and who see unusual transactions in the account.
“They’ve got a customer in her 90s, very frail, and see activity in the bank account at a luxury ski resort in northern Europe, or they’ve bought a boat or a giant motorbike.
“All the banks can do is go to the police, but most people don’t want to report their adult children to the police.”
Queensland Acting Public Guardian Shayna Smith said […] some cases had been referred to police, who had charged family members with fraud or failure to supply necessities of life.
A 73-year-old woman who had owned four properties had to be rescued from the locked basement room of her son’s home, sitting in her own faeces […]
More than 1700 notifications of abuse were reported to the Queensland Government-funded Elder Abuse Prevention Unit last financial year.
Who on earth would trust such human vultures to make end-of-life decisions for other people?
When Australia abolished death duties in the 1970s, a similarly nasty trend became evident. There was a suspicious drop in elderly deaths in the last weeks of the taxes, followed by a surge when death duties were abolished. In other words, families were going all-out to keep their elderly relatives alive until they could gain maximum benefit. Once the threat of death duties vanished, the plugs were unceremoniously pulled.
“Intolerable suffering” is the motte-position of the euthanasia argument. But it’s the elder-abusive bailey which should be the deal-breaker.
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