by Das Govind

Created on: January 12, 2009   Last Updated: April 11, 2010

I strongly believe that it is a personal decision to care for a loved one. it is not an easy task to look after a sick or dying person. it takes a lot of compassion, time and energy to nurse, bath, feed and look after there every needs. The family members of the sick and dying person also will get quite fatigued and have a lot of negative energy to deal with, as a result of putting so much of effort in taking care of a sick loved one.

Another fact to bare in mind, when deciding to look after an ailing family member, be it a parent or sibling, the person in question may be married and the spouse may not be too happy in having to help take care of the dying person. the child of the parent or sibling will then have to face pressure from the spouse, and look into other alternatives of trying to care for the patient. A good alternative is to hire a carer, full time if the family can afford it, or hire one part time, just so the remaining family members get some relief from having to look after sick people.

The big ethical dilemma about putting loved ones in nursing homes is that they may be your parents or spouse, and they have sacrificed and did so much in order for you to get were you are today. it is indeed the most difficult decision one could make. Cultures were people have a more collective approach to life will rank highly in looking after ailing loved ones. Countries like the United Kingdom, United States of America and Australia will have a more individualistic way of looking at things. these cultures leave home at an early age and fend for themselves. parents do not help them, and they do not help parents after they have flown the nest. These cultures will find it easier to put parents in nursing homes as they see it as parents not being their problem. Countries that have a more collective approach to living will try to look after ailing family members. These countries include many African nations, India and many tribes.

The problem is that even if people come from these collective backgrounds it is becoming increasingly difficult to support family members with the cost of living. The ailing person in question should not fully rely on family members to take care of them, but take out insurance policies, and have some health insurance and money saved up for the days when they know that they will not be physically well to fend for themselves. Some people love their parents to bits and cannot part with them or put them in nursing homes.

Learn more about this author, Das Govind.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.