OPINION NO. 128 OF FRENCH NATIONAL CONSULTATIVE ETHICS COMMITTEE FOR HEALTH AND LIFE SCIENCES (CCNE) ON “THE ETHICAL ISSUES OF AGEING”

Abstract

This Opinion denounces a state of advanced deterioration
of our caring modalities for fragile or vulnerable old people,
whose economic precariousness and social isolation leave
no other choice than “placement” in “Host establishments
for dependent elderly people”. Going beyond the mere
description of unbearable situations, the Opinion expresses
an unprecedented call for urgent and radical changes in all
areas and at all levels of the society for thinking differently
about aging, for restoring to frail and vulnerable older
people their full place in our society, changing mentality
and vocabulary regarding elders, bringing about an epistemological revisiting of the whole health system, and a
renewed training of health and social actors, for creating
new forms of solidarity, and significantly strengthening the
policies accompanying ageing