ABC RN Big Ideas – Aged care, dementia and assisted dying

Inspired by Griffith Review 68: Getting On, Melanie Cheng, writer and general practitioner; Associate Professor Sarah Holland-Batt, poet, editor, critic, witness at the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety; and Andrew Stafford, author and journalist, join ABC Radio National’s Paul Barclay to discuss aged care, dementia and assisted dying.

Neglect of the elderly is rife in Australia. An ageing population also means an increase in dementia, with many saying they would rather end their life than endure the disease. Our laws, however, prevent assisted dying. Paul Barclay talks to a panel of writers about restoring dignity and empathy to aged care, and the limits of euthanasia.

Broadcast: 8.05 pm, Wednesday 1 July 2020, ABC Radio National
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With our ageing population particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, it’s time to challenge – and rectify – the exclusion of the elderly from our culture and focus on people as people, not as problems to be solved.