After reading several articles on euthanasia in Dutch papers, I get the impression that quite some people seem to think going to a nursing home is worse than dying (and a substantial part of them thus see euthanasia as a good alternative).
Last year I had to return to Belgium, where I grew up for the most part, to say my goodbyes to my grandfather. He had been diagnosed with mesothelioma and decided at his age he had lived a good life and was opting for euthanasia. I'm pretty Americanized at this point, and being away from the openess of this option made it quite tough - even though I have been pro giving people this option. While not a direct correlation to a nursing home, he didn't want to spend the last of his life in a hospital bed, receiving treatment - instead he opted to use the good time he still had and spent it with the family, and even went on a cruise to Norway that he and my grandmother had wanted to go on since when they first got married but never had the opportunity to go.
I think part of the mentality is that he got to go out on his own terms, with a sound mind, and knowing he had taken care of everything he wanted to - and living in a home is a burden and not a pleasant way to spend the remainder of your days, wondering who will visit you and when.
I thought this was a fairly common attitude all over. After seeing my grandparents go through it, I'd definitely prefer to just die right away rather than live out the rest of my days in a nursing home. Maybe I'd change my mind once faced with it... but of course the big fear is that I'd no longer be capable of making the choice.
Would you mind elaborating a bit on what's bad about it? I've been to a few retirement homes and they seemed reasonably nice places, but I don't think I've visited a nursing home.
Imagine a day care where the children never get picked up, need to sleep there, and cost is the biggest factor except for in a very small percentage of facilities.
Now replace every child with an octogenarian who hasn't seen his family in six weeks, or maybe just saw his family yesterday for his birthday but doesn't remember at all. Replace the apples and letters on the walls with Cardiograms and notices about patient safety and how dedicated the employee who was on the shift when your grandmother's wedding band went missing is to her care.
It's a problem that a lot of people want to ignore because it really is hard to think about it.
It greatly depends on the nursing home and possibly how much money you had going in.
My grandmother was in one, in the 90's, and it was quite a nice place with an active social life (which she pretty much ignored, because she had lots of family around).
