[Draft] Grand-Aunt Agony

[Euroda]

This is my first ever attempt at writing an issue.

The inspiration for this issue comes from a series of news reports of elder abuse in nursing homes over a number of years.

Any and all comments are appreciated. Thanks in Advance!

[working title] Grand-Aunt Agony
[alternative title] The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

[description] After an old lady in a nursing home was found with unexplained bruises, her nephew installed a secret camera nearby. It revealed that staff had picked her up by her limbs and flung her onto a bed before slapping and pinching her for making long high-pitched sounds. Reports say the lady suffers from dementia and had been there for years. This revelation has sparked heated discussion about eldercare services in @@Name@@.

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[Option 1] "How could they treat her so?" her nephew @@RANDOMNAME@@ raged in a widely-watched interview. "It's clear that these loutish aides are in no way qualified to work in this industry! We need strict regulations involving training and monitoring to weed out cruel people and to ensure that those who apply to work in eldercare not only have the skills, but also the heart!"

[Validity] All

[effect] graduating eldercare nurses are wrinkled like a raisin.

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[Option 2a] “Only in a free market can quality eldercare exist,” says @@RANDOMNAME@@, a well-known lobbyist for capitalism, waltzing past security as she flings @@CURRENCY@@ high into the air. “Competition and cash drives compassion and efficiency! The elderly can shop around for a retirement home that understands their aches and pains. And just think of the cash we can earn! You should consider privatization of all industries. Perhaps we can discuss this over a glass of Maxtopia's finest vintage, Dear @@LEADER@@?"

[Validity] Socialism, No private industry

[Effect] whine only improves with age

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[Option 2b] "The state should take over all eldercare facilities to prevent this from happening again!" cries your Minister of Homeland Affairs, widely rumored to be awarding government permits to his family members. "Who'll take better care of our own elderly, and understand their aches and pains? And just think of all the savings we could have by nationalizing our healthcare and pharmaceutical industries too! Perhaps we can discuss this over a glass of Maxtopia's finest vintage, Dear @@LEADER@@?"

[Validity] Capitalism, Has private industry

[Effect] whine only improves with age

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[Option 3] "She deserved it for moaning all the time!" shouts one of the nursing aide, barging into your office while fending off police officers attempting to arrest him. "All these old people have outgrown their usefulness in society. Who cares about old folks anyway? The government should close an eye to what happens in nursing homes, and in return we will assist in solving the aging population problem discreetly!"

[Validity] All

[Effect] age is only valued in cheese and wine

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End Draft 2
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[title] Grand-Aunt Agony or The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

[description] Secret cameras installed in a nursing home revealed that staff picked up an elderly lady and flung her onto a bed before slapping and pinching her for endless whining. Reports say the lady had been there for years and had both old and new bruises on her body. This incident has sparked heated discussion about eldercare services in @@Name@@.

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[Option 1] "How could they treat her so?" her nephew rages in a widely-shared interview. "It's clear that these loutish aides are in no way qualified to work in this industry! We need strict regulations to ensure that those who apply to work in eldercare not only have the skills, but also the heart!"

[Validity] All

[effect] in @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ nursing homes, the aged blind lead the aged blind.

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[Option 2a] “Only in a free market can quality eldercare exist,” says @@RANDOMNAME@@, a well-known lobbyist for capitalism, while sipping a glass of Maxtopia's finest vintage. “Competition and cash drives compassion and efficiency! The elderly can shop around for a retirement home that understands their aches and pains. And just think of the cash we can earn! You should consider privatization of all industries. Perhaps we can discuss this over a glass of wine?"

[Validity] Socialism, No private industry

[Effect] whine only improves with age.

---
[Option 2b] "The state should take over all eldercare facilities to prevent this from happening again!" cries your Minister of Homeland Affairs, rumored to be corrupt. "Who'll take better care of our own elderly, who built the country we live in, and understand their aches and pains? And just think of all the savings we could have by nationalizing our pharmaceutical industry too! Perhaps we can discuss this over a glass of wine?"

[Validity] Capitalism, Has private industry

[Effect] whine only improves with age.

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[Option 3] "She deserved it for moaning all the time about trivialities!" shouts the nursing home director. "All these old people have outgrown their usefulness in society. Who cares about old folks anyway?"

[Validity] All

[Effect] age is only valued in cheese and wine.

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End Draft 1
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[Trotterdam]

[description] Secret cameras installed in a nursing home revealed that staff picked up an elderly lady and flung her onto a bed before slapping and pinching her for endless whining. Reports say the lady had been there for years and had both old and new bruises on her body. This incident has sparked heated discussion about eldercare services in @@Name@@.

So... we need cameras for this? They're good for proof, sure, but hadn't the lady herself mentioned any complaints? Why? Are they bullying her into silence? Is she too senile to know how to do something about her situation? Does she never, ever get any family visits she could mention her problems to?

[effect] in @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ nursing homes, the aged blind lead the aged blind.

Commas should be avoided in effect lines. (There's some leeway but this is on the wrong side of it.)

I also don't really get this effect line. It sounds like it's saying only elderly people are getting accepted as nursing home caretakers, which is a stretch from the option text.

Oh, and leave off the period at the end of the effect line. The editors can remove it easily enough, but they'll be happier if they don't have to.

[Option 3] "She deserved it for moaning all the time about trivialities!" shouts the nursing home director. "All these old people have outgrown their usefulness in society. Who cares about old folks anyway?"

This is noticeably shorter than the other options. It also doesn't contain an explicit course of action.

[Euroda]

Is she too senile to know how to do something about her situation?

Yes, I should include something to the effect. I'll rewrite the description!

I also don't really get this effect line. It sounds like it's saying only elderly people are getting accepted as nursing home caretakers, which is a stretch from the option text.

I'll revise the text. It's supposed to imply that by the time people graduate from the course, they are old.

This is noticeably shorter than the other options. It also doesn't contain an explicit course of action.

I'll revise this too, along with your other comments. Thanks!

[Euroda]

Posted Draft 2, welcoming comments.

[Azyl]

Wrote some feedback, hope that helps, if not just disregard.

Option 3 should not show up for nations that already has the Geronticide policy, and by the text it would add it. Actually thinking about it maybe have the entire issue not available at all for those with Geronticide since there's no old people.

What I dislike most about some issues when there are no answers that are satisfactory for me. Everyone is different, but having interesting and different options can usually improve on that, or having options that take more resources but give more extreme results, like the pattern found in many issues where there's two rather moderate approach in different directions with two more extreme options for those two directions.

For an example of options which I would find interesting, perhaps there could be an option to turn elder homes into WonderfulLand theme parks, like an extreme option putting lots of resources to make the elderly live in a kind of utopia where they can play the interesting bits of being a monarch or something, dispensing mock justice, having feasts, having entertainers that perform live before them, etc.

For a more moderate option of using less resources for the elderly, there could be an option where children are required by law to take care of the elderly, with those without living parents being required to take care of elderly without children. For an extra twist, it could make having children being mandatory to provide for later care (No Contraception or remove Parental Licensing?) or maybe add Child Labor as elderly are having children late to take care of them. Excluded for nations with Vat-Produced Infants I guess.

Of course that would change the feeling of the issue, so you might not want these specifically.

Maybe a more moderate way compared to making nurses study so long they are all aged up would be to force everyone to go take care of the elderly on a specific day of the week or an hour out of each day or something like that - doesn't help as much for safety, but shows some care, could be an effect line like the elderly doesn't recognize all those kids who come visit that they don't remember having, but they are grateful for them bringing cheese and wine.

Maybe a less extreme way to reduce costs for taking care of the elderly would be to keep them all together at all times like a boarding school with communal rooms, leaving them with reduced privacy but they can help each other more easily and detecting abuse is easier. Effect line could be nursing homes are build around one giant communal room that always smells like cheese.

Sometimes some options only deal with a small tangential part of issues, like having an option to put lots of money into healthcare (add Universal Health Care?) to solve/prevent/treat dementia and keep people more functional for longer. Which kind of sidesteps the issue I guess. Effect line could be the elderly are not only the greatest consumers of cheese and wine, they are also the greatest producers. (Because they're healthy and active for longer and keep more memory/sense of taste.)

[Euroda]

Noted, thanks for pointing out Geronticidal nations should be excluded, and will see if I can craft and include a moderate option.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

The core premise is okay, but the options are barmy.

So you've got:

Option 1: Invest to improve quality
Option 2: Ban/reinstate capitalism
Option 3: Abuse is good.

That's terrible.

I'd suggest a slightly different approach of:

Option 1: Invest to improve quality of care homes.
Option 2: No, you just need more policing. Give whisteblowers bonuses and promotions, and have live camera feeds in place by default, accessible by all relatives and stakeholders.
Option 3: Why are we putting the elderly in care homes? What happened to family values? Make next-of-kin financially responsible by law for the care of the elderly, and promote a culture of keeping the elderly with their families where they belong.
Option 4: The invisible hand of the free market will fix things without government intervention. Government should butt out of the private sector, etc.

[Baggieland]

Make next-of-kin financially responsible by law for the care of the elderly

Has this been done already in another issue? It seems familiar, but of course I could be wrong / getting muddled up with something else.

[Westinor]

Make next-of-kin financially responsible by law for the care of the elderly

Has this been done already in another issue? It seems familiar, but of course I could be wrong / getting muddled up with something else.

I believe it's an option in an issue. One of the ones about seniors being a drag on welfare, or something like that.

[SherpDaWerp]

That would be #1248, Option 3. Funnily enough, I added that option after CWA made a very similar suggestion...

I suggest going with a "family values" option along the lines of "the problem with people these days is a lack of family values -- the elderly ought to be cared for by dutiful children, not be impersonal nursing homes", and then suggesting that people should be made legally responsible for elderly parents, much in the same way as they're responsible for young dependants.

[Australian rePublic]

Option 2 assumes that this doesn't happen in private nursing homes. Australia's royal comission into aged care would suggest otherwise

[Saint Kanye]

All this name makes me think of is Grand Theft Auto