Read on Twitter
This, while not unexpected for anyone who has been paying attention, is an absolute outrage.
Will we look up from our day-to-day concerns and pay attention? Will we actually *see* and internalize what is being done to this population?
**will we?** 1/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/09/16/coronavirus-dementia-alzheimers-deaths/?arc404=true&utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1&pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSIsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk2ZmY1YTlhZGU0ZTI1NjNjY2M1YWE0IiwidGFnIjoid3BfdG9feW91cl9oZWFsdGgiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vaGVhbHRoLzIwMjAvMDkvMTYvY29yb25hdmlydXMtZGVtZW50aWEtYWx6aGVpbWVycy1kZWF0aHMvP2FyYzQwND10cnVlJnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj13cF90b195b3VyX2hlYWx0aCZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9zb3VyY2U9bmV3c2xldHRlciZ3cGlzcmM9bmxfdHloJndwbWs9MSJ9.oJdpTylEeoUWEHS99qV23gsQ3ONln0xsI2OaUJ3NlmI
Will we look up from our day-to-day concerns and pay attention? Will we actually *see* and internalize what is being done to this population?
**will we?** 1/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/09/16/coronavirus-dementia-alzheimers-deaths/?arc404=true&utm_campaign=wp_to_your_health&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_tyh&wpmk=1&pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJjb29raWVuYW1lIjoid3BfY3J0aWQiLCJpc3MiOiJDYXJ0YSIsImNvb2tpZXZhbHVlIjoiNTk2ZmY1YTlhZGU0ZTI1NjNjY2M1YWE0IiwidGFnIjoid3BfdG9feW91cl9oZWFsdGgiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vaGVhbHRoLzIwMjAvMDkvMTYvY29yb25hdmlydXMtZGVtZW50aWEtYWx6aGVpbWVycy1kZWF0aHMvP2FyYzQwND10cnVlJnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj13cF90b195b3VyX2hlYWx0aCZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9zb3VyY2U9bmV3c2xldHRlciZ3cGlzcmM9bmxfdHloJndwbWs9MSJ9.oJdpTylEeoUWEHS99qV23gsQ3ONln0xsI2OaUJ3NlmI
The "excess deaths" are so overwhelming that they will be impossible to ignore, right?
**right??**
2/
**right??**
2/
Robert Anderson, chief of mortality statistics at the CDC: “There’s something going on and it needs to be sorted out."
Yep, and that "something going on" is, apparently, that we are abandoning people with dementia to deaths of isolation and despair. 3/ https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/16/dementia-deaths-coronavirus-nursing-homes-416530
Yep, and that "something going on" is, apparently, that we are abandoning people with dementia to deaths of isolation and despair. 3/ https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/16/dementia-deaths-coronavirus-nursing-homes-416530
Our cowardly willingness to subordinate virtually every other good to the slight chance of lowing the infection rate bears some of the blame here. But if we thought people with dementia counted the same as the rest of us...if we weren't ableist in our assumptions and values... 4/
...then we would be desperately trying to figure out a solution to care for this population.
But I fear we don't think people with dementia count as the same as the rest of us.
This is the central argument of my next book: that we have rejected fundamental human equality... 5/
But I fear we don't think people with dementia count as the same as the rest of us.
This is the central argument of my next book: that we have rejected fundamental human equality... 5/
...in claiming that prenatal human beings and other humans with massive and catastrophic brain injuries were not persons like the rest of us...
...and that the next logical step is to claim that human beings with advanced dementia are also not persons like the rest of us. 6/
...and that the next logical step is to claim that human beings with advanced dementia are also not persons like the rest of us. 6/
I hope my suspicions are proven wrong. I hope this is covered aggressively and those responsible, including policy makers, are held to account. I hope we fundamentally change how we care for these throwaway populations.
I hope we take the approach of the Good Samaritan. /7
I hope we take the approach of the Good Samaritan. /7
But I fear our reaction will be quite different.
I fear we will instead cross to the other side of the street and pretend what we now know is happening isn't really happening.
That we will look the other way while this population is discarded.
#ResistThrowawayCulture
/fin
I fear we will instead cross to the other side of the street and pretend what we now know is happening isn't really happening.
That we will look the other way while this population is discarded.
#ResistThrowawayCulture
/fin
