HP wonderings again
Maybe this is my job and the Vicodin, but I have to wonder about elder care in the HP-verse.
Granted, we don't see a whole lot about the health care industry in general in HP, and Harry doesn't have any elderly about which to particularly worry, so I'm not surprised we haven't seen anything about it, but I wonder. Do they have assisted living? Hospice? What?
The obvious answer is that wizards take care of their own. Their lifespans are long, their health seems to be more robust than ours, their families seem close-knit. So, logically, they take care of their own elderly in the home. But what about childless wizards and witches? Muggleborns without the living extended family to help support them?
After having dealt with dementia patients, I imagine there would be nothing more frightening than a wizard with dementia. These people still have the capacity to do the things they used to do, they just don't remember where they are, who the people are around them, and are prone to fits of frustration and rage. It's bad enough getting socked in the face by a dementia patient who doesn't remember I'm there to help them get out of their clothes and get to bed, who can't process that I'm taking out her dentures to clean them, not to steal them. How much worse would it be from a wizard or witch, who can muster magic behind those blows? Would magical healthcare workers find it ethically acceptable to take a wand away from a patient? At what stage of mental breakdown does one take the wand and restrain the patient, for fear he or she will do a spell to cause harm that they don't mean, or even worse, Apparate out of the facility in which they're staying because they think they need to go "home"?
Also, do wizards do hospice care? How do they treat the dying? We know nothing about funeary rites and rituals, never mind end-of-life care. Are there staff trained to do this at St Mungo's? Are there wizarding funeral directors? Casket makers? How do they handle the end of life? For people who are long-lived, reaching 150 or so easily, a fear of death has got to be part of the culture, and it makes Voldemort's quest for immortality all the more telling and poignant.
I really don't have any answers. I could see there being a large facility somewhere in rural Shropshire or something to house wizards with dementia and specialising in hospice care. That seems like a particularly Hufflepuff line of work, but then again, I see them as the House most given to the Healing Arts. I don't know if that's a fandom perception or not, merely one that I particularly endorse. Medicine is hard work and loyalty to tenants that seem difficult to follow--professional ethics are not easy, nor should they be--and healing people who aren't grateful for it and some that are, and taking mistakes on the chin. Working with the elderly is all of that to the nth degree. It seems to be a Hufflepuffian undertaking.
Like I said, not a lot of answers, just some wonderings and musings. One day, when I'm feeling ambitious, I might actually puzzle out some answers, or at least theoretical ones.
Granted, we don't see a whole lot about the health care industry in general in HP, and Harry doesn't have any elderly about which to particularly worry, so I'm not surprised we haven't seen anything about it, but I wonder. Do they have assisted living? Hospice? What?
The obvious answer is that wizards take care of their own. Their lifespans are long, their health seems to be more robust than ours, their families seem close-knit. So, logically, they take care of their own elderly in the home. But what about childless wizards and witches? Muggleborns without the living extended family to help support them?
After having dealt with dementia patients, I imagine there would be nothing more frightening than a wizard with dementia. These people still have the capacity to do the things they used to do, they just don't remember where they are, who the people are around them, and are prone to fits of frustration and rage. It's bad enough getting socked in the face by a dementia patient who doesn't remember I'm there to help them get out of their clothes and get to bed, who can't process that I'm taking out her dentures to clean them, not to steal them. How much worse would it be from a wizard or witch, who can muster magic behind those blows? Would magical healthcare workers find it ethically acceptable to take a wand away from a patient? At what stage of mental breakdown does one take the wand and restrain the patient, for fear he or she will do a spell to cause harm that they don't mean, or even worse, Apparate out of the facility in which they're staying because they think they need to go "home"?
Also, do wizards do hospice care? How do they treat the dying? We know nothing about funeary rites and rituals, never mind end-of-life care. Are there staff trained to do this at St Mungo's? Are there wizarding funeral directors? Casket makers? How do they handle the end of life? For people who are long-lived, reaching 150 or so easily, a fear of death has got to be part of the culture, and it makes Voldemort's quest for immortality all the more telling and poignant.
I really don't have any answers. I could see there being a large facility somewhere in rural Shropshire or something to house wizards with dementia and specialising in hospice care. That seems like a particularly Hufflepuff line of work, but then again, I see them as the House most given to the Healing Arts. I don't know if that's a fandom perception or not, merely one that I particularly endorse. Medicine is hard work and loyalty to tenants that seem difficult to follow--professional ethics are not easy, nor should they be--and healing people who aren't grateful for it and some that are, and taking mistakes on the chin. Working with the elderly is all of that to the nth degree. It seems to be a Hufflepuffian undertaking.
Like I said, not a lot of answers, just some wonderings and musings. One day, when I'm feeling ambitious, I might actually puzzle out some answers, or at least theoretical ones.