Re what they do with their elderly ‘in other cultures…’
A BiL of mine married a non Brit from a Mediterranean culture. He used to go on about how wonderful it was, the way they looked after their own elderly, cleaning up their shit (his words) etc.
Roll on a decade or two, and FiL had dementia. And what happened once he became difficult? After one or two very short respite stays to give me a break (he was mostly with us) the response from SiL was, ‘Not one more DAY!!’
We have Indian friends, living in Mumbai, who used to visit London every summer. My DM was in a care home with dementia at the time and I was once telling the wife how fond some Brits are of saying how uniquely awful we are, compared to ‘other cultures’ for not caring for our elderly ourselves.
She said it was rubbish. Her own elderly mother, with dementia, was cared for in her own home, 100 miles from Mumbai, by 2 permanent live-in carers. As she pointed out, such things are relatively far cheaper and easier to organise there, than in the U.K. She said it was a common arrangement.
Lastly, a dd who was working in Cambodia, witnessed in a poor rural village, a grandmother with dementia, who was tied to a chair outside all day, a) to stop her wandering off and getting lost, and b) to stop her weeing and pooing in the house.
Once a day she was hosed down.
Plenty of poorer people in poorer countries, simply have no choice.