Not only are ordinary people in these circumstances prevented from bequeathing their property to their children, but in some cases, have to pay more than is being paid by councils for those without means; those with means are subsidising those without.

I can definitely understand people who decide to end it all because they cannot stand the indignity of having to receive personal care, and who have completely lost their independence, but it can never be right to involve others in this. No amount of safeguards can keep old people from devious machinations of relatives watching ‘their’ inheritance cascading away.

It is very difficult for children caring for frail old parents; they can be so difficult, struggling as they are with coming to terms with their increasing loss of independence and the general shrinking of their lives. Those who once pursued their own working social lives to the detriment of their children now expect those same children to accompany them on hospital appointments even though they have ambulance transport; to take them to parties, (80ths !!!!) and virtually move in ‘because we need you now’. They are haemorrhaging money on care packages and buying the latest all-singing all-dancing wheelchairs. They drive you mad with their obsessions with shopping orders and paperwork, and still, all the while, treating you like a child. Nevertheless, they still find life worth living and even if the entire inheritance goes on what some would call useless lives, if we start down the route of dispensing with inconvenient, expensive people, even if they say that it what they want, we are surely guilty of murder.

Having said all this – someone does have to pay the costs and whatever scheme is eventually set up, it absolutely must be securely ringfenced – governments are pemanently on the prowl and believe it to be their inalienable right to plunder large funds, (think pensions), when the the plebs look to be amassing more than they have a right to. But the problem is very pressing, it is has reached this unaffordable stage thanks to successive governements burying their heads in the sand. No administration is going to say that those with means should pay for their own care and contribute to care for those with no means, but, in effect that is what is happeining and until an alternative is found, this will continue. Relatives of Alzheimer’s sufferers may have had a good result yesterday, but what about the thousands of people suffering with conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, which can end in total paralysis with major organ complications? Getting them a continuing care package is all but impossible.
Fianlly, we should remember too that we are not talking about an isolated or different group of people – most of us will be joining one day.