Sending people to care homes in lower-income countries: A qualified defence

In recent years, a proportion of older Germans has been sent to relatively high-end care homes within lower-income countries where the care tends to be cheaper and more extensive than that in German care homes. Destination countries are found predominantly within Eastern Europe (e.g. Poland, Hungary...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: de Vries, Bouke (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2022
In: Bioethics
Year: 2022, Volume: 36, Issue: 1, Pages: 85-92
IxTheo Classification:NCB Personal ethics
NCH Medical ethics
Further subjects:B Migration
B lower-income countries
B ageing populations
B care drain
B Brain Drain
B Dementia
B Care homes
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:In recent years, a proportion of older Germans has been sent to relatively high-end care homes within lower-income countries where the care tends to be cheaper and more extensive than that in German care homes. Destination countries are found predominantly within Eastern Europe (e.g. Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic), but to a lesser extent also within South-East Asia (e.g. Thailand). At the same time, these expatriations have caused much controversy, with some German commentators calling them ‘inhumane’ and ‘shameful’. In this article, I argue that such criticisms are overdrawn. Although sending an older individual to a care home within a lower-income country can be morally impermissible, I find that there are at least three sets of conditions under which it is not.
ISSN:1467-8519
Contains:Enthalten in: Bioethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12948