What legal issues are becoming more prominent as the demographics change?
ANSWER Among the most important legal issues affecting the elderly in America are those that have an effect on a person’s independence – the right to care for oneself even in the face of difficulty rather than to be placed under guardianship, for example, and the right to make one’s own decisions about health care and end of life planning. As the population ages, it is also becoming much more common for children to need to care for their aging parents, which sometimes leads to stresses that result in elder abuse. And another fact of American demographics – our high divorce rate – has made the move to recognizing grandparents’ rights more prominent as well. This cannot pretend to answer every law-related question affecting the elderly; instead, it focuses on these four topics that have major effect on the way we live, and end, our lives.
