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SALLY'S ART
213978
How is ageism a social issue?
- By discriminating different groups of people based on their ages in workplace, older workers are tend to receive different treatments and opportunities than youngers. Although, ageism affects individual's own career, confidence, and finance, it changes the way that the whole society evaluates all the elderlys, not just one person. According to researches and surveys that researchers took in recent years, older people intense to lose their jobs because of their age. They even start to receive low quality services, disrespect, being ignored. Most of the employers consider elderlys as weak and need protections, however, "little evidence was found to suggest that oler workers productivity declines with age". Nevertheless, there is clear evidence that many employers across different countries do believe that older workers productivity does decline.” （Department of Work and Pension of UK)
Real Life Example #2:
- Joy Matthews' husband had Parkinston disease for 20 years, but despite being on a wheelchair, he did can do regular exercise like a normal person. Unfortunately, in 2009, he picked up a bug which was not been diagnosed immediately and he transferred to intensive health care. A day after Mr. Mathews was transferred, Joy was brought to one side with the consultant and they argued about Matthews' life and future medication. The consultant said offensively that since her husband has been illed for so many years, his life is not worth fighting for anymore, so they decided to stop all his drugs and medicines in order to let nature take his future. However, Mrs. Matthews strongly believe that even there's no hope in her husband life, his life is never not worth fighting for.
- This can reflect ageism within society because the consultant considered Joy's life as useless and worthless based on his illness. Not only his life was considered as "not worth fighting for", the consultant even wanted to end his life by stopping his medication which certainly present an inequality between young people and old people. The way that youngers carry a thought about evaluating elderlys as a burdensome fully shows the influence of ageism in our society.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7850907.stm
Which case is the most influencial one?
- I think the second case is a bit more symbolic to me because the consultant didn't just disrespect by Mr. Matthews' age, but also judge about his personal choice and view on his own life's value. The consultant didn't have the rights to make any choice to stop his life without letting him to know that. The reason behind this might be there were too many people waiting for treatments, so the consultant thought Mr. Matthew would be the best fit to move out since he was turning older and older.
Real Life Example #1:
- 60 years old Jean Austin was being prejudiced on her age by her general practitioner when she was asking for help for her foot problems that had been bothering her for 18 months. By saying "Look at your age - you're coming up to 60!" and told her to go to a private consultation and retiremnet present, the doctor's ignorant and careless attitude certainly reflects his personal view on his patient according to the age. After Jean Austin insists to take an X-ray of his foot, she found out that there was a not yet healed broken bone. Later, she found another specialist to take it out and she's been fine ever since. She can even go to gym twice a year and still stay active.
- Nowadays, many misdiagnosis are usually caused by doctor's unconcerned attitude. In the U.S misdiagnosis rate, around 30%-40% of patients are misdiagnosed or taken wrong medicine in hospitals, and most of them are aged above 40 or 50. The aspects that might cause doctors to make such mistakes on older people are careless examinations, impatient attitude, etc. As a result, elderlys are receiving negative views from youngers in medical services by facing harsh treatments.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7850907.stm
Real Life Example #3:
- 84 years old Violet Simpson had been receiving angina treatment for two years. Before her treatment, she did an operation on her big toe but because of her angina, they found a leaky valve in her heart. When she asked for treatment for her heart problem, however, the doctor said in a nonchalent attitude that, "There's no point of bothering that much of any disease or problem because she was 84-year-old already" . Violet couldn't loose the medication and convince the doctor to give her treatment. With the treatment going, Violet doesn't feel any pain anymore.
- This example shows young doctor's age discrimination towards an old lady. Before even starting the treatment, the doctor considered that there's no hope in her life at this age, so he assumed that the treatment is no needed. This can represent ageism issue because the stereotype is spreading too broadly that even young people are evaluating elderlys as they don't deserve chances in the society.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7850907.stm
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