Although the legal problems of the elderly are as old as humankind, they have taken on current prominence for another reason: lifespan has increased markedly in recent years. Persons who would, given their age, have been the elders of the past and would have been expected to be focused on their imminent death are now, as a group, robust and well. They have better survived the ravages of time than have the plans fashioned when life expectancy was much lower. Questions concerning social status, expectations of living standards, general assistance and medical care all have become far more important and considerably more difficult. As life has become longer, and death more controllable, the issue of a person's right to choose death over diminished quality of life has also become far more complicated.
This interesting book provides the reader with a selection of perspectives from scholars in different parts of the world on various branches of `elderlaw'. Questions of social obligations to elders and elders'rights and duties are addressed as they arise in the United States, Japan, Greece, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Canada, and England.
The compilation does not attempt to map out the field nor to make country-by-country comparisons of the issues discussed. Rather, it shows some commonality of concerns and in the identification of problems and proposals for their solution.