Should Children Who Neglect Their Elderly Parents Be Criminally Liable?
This was the motion (i.e. the proposition - the thing that is to be debated on) for the octofinals of the National Debate Championship. It’s quite interesting and very relevant regardless of which country you set it. In the United States, the Baby Boomer generation is aging and they will need to be taken cared of some way. We’re all quite aware that not all families in the US observe the same level of family ties that we in the Philippines are accustomed to. I know it’s a gross understatement, but in a society wherein divorce is an everyday fact of life and where it is not uncommon for children to move out to exercise their right to emancipation, the parents are usually left by wayside. If the parents are lucky, their children will probably visit them during Thanksgiving or Christmas, but as far as actual cohabitation and geriatric care is concerned, it’s a vast gray area.
The medical care field was fast to anticipate this problem of course. The past decade has seen an increase in the number of nursing homes for elderly Americans. The Philippines has become a direct beneficiary of this booming industry by being one of the primary providers of nurses and caregivers. If one couldn’t afford a nursing home, there’s always the state’s welfare department that can help out those in financial distress. Though the US Welfare System is far from perfect, it is still able to deliver pension and benefits to those who apply for it.
Clearly, there are mechanism in the status quo that could be used by even the most uncaring and busy child. But here’s the thing. What happens when an elderly parent - one that is sick and possibly dying — finds himself/herself in an utterly helpless state and his/her child was negligent in not giving him/her the necessary medical attention?
As children, we are the responsibilities of our parents. The State has laws that punish parents who endanger their children’s welfare and there are also stiff penalties for purposefully retarding the development of one’s child. These laws are enshrined in the judicial system and nobody really questions them. But once that child grows up and his/her parents become old, does the responsibility to take care of his/her parents go to him?
And if it does, should he be jailed and made to pay fines?
I’ll appreciate your comments. I’ll reveal how the teams argued their cases later. 
VOTES SO FAR:
NO
…Granted that they may choose to do so and granted that as early as now I have decided to take care of my parents, I will not oblige my daughter to take care of me when it’s my turn. Her responsibility is to take care of her self and her kids.
Bookmark at:Caring for your children is a duty that comes after a free choice. Caring for your parents is a free choice in itself. Doing so is part of our cultural norms, and that’s probably a good thing. But punishing bad children as criminals is clearly outside the bounds of a democratic government’s powers.
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Seriously, I think that my children shouldn’t bear the responsibility to take care of me in old age. Granted that they may choose to do so and granted that as early as now I have decided to take care of my parents, I will not oblige my daughter to take care of me when it’s my turn. Her responsibility is to take care of her self and her kids.
I’ll just have to find a way to ensure that when I do get old, I will have enough resources to provide for my wife and myself.
You can choose whether to have children, but you don’t get to choose whether to have parents.
Caring for your children is a duty that comes after a free choice. Caring for your parents is a free choice in itself. Doing so is part of our cultural norms, and that’s probably a good thing. But punishing bad children as criminals is clearly outside the bounds of a democratic government’s powers.
one thing very admirable about our culture is our respect and love for the elderly. no argument, it is the parents duty to upbring their children and provide them the basic needs in life until they become independent. when the parents grow old and disable to do the things they used to do, children should naturally take care of them in return.
i believe that children should take care of their elderly but will not buy the idea of being criminally liable should they neglect their elders. it’s a choice for the children, and it all depends on their upbringing and values.
they should not be criminally liable. I have told my kids they are not obligated to watch over us. We plan to make arrangements that they won’t be burdened. Of course they say, we won’t do that mom, dad. But we don’t know how their husbands’ reactions are. Their families (if they get married) are their first priorities.
disregarding the fact that “negligence” may not be a deliberate act and could be brought about by other factors like emotional strain or financial incapability, criminal liability is still a hard sell.
set it up in the US, where children are actually kicked out of their houses once they turn 18 and parents more or less cut their financial support and lift themselves of the responsibility of taking care of their child the way they used to, it is already a working cycle where “negligence” could occur from either side, and criminalization for negligence will not have a place in their society. plus, with nursing homes comes the higher demand for nurses, something that our country will actually benefit from, but that’s just an added value.
set it up in the Philippines, where family values are a far cry from the US, and where it may seem like the perfect fit for the law, criminal liability would still not fly. though laws are supposed to reflect societal norms and what a certain society deems right or wrong, there is still a fine line between what is more or less accepted by society as a whole and what is accepted by just a majority, especially in a democratic country like ours where minorities should still be heard. with that train of thought, we take into consideration those families who have different dynamics and might not want to take care of their elderly parents. this kind of law would now become an imposition of morality, something that by principle, a law should never do. morality is subjective and this subjectivity should be more or less respected.
it all boils down to one’s conscious choice and whether or not the law should step in it. how far should government intervention be? this matter is why civil courts are established, because government intervention has boundaries. yes the governement should take care of all their citizens and the family is the “foundation” of any society, but criminal liable over private family matters and choices would and should never happen.
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Consider that for parents, a significant amount of opportunity to secure one’s prosperity even in old age is lost because of expenses incurred in raising kids and ensuring their happiness. It is but rightful that the give-and-take principle be applied in resolving this issue.
Hahaha. We debated this motion in preparation for PSDC.
Children are not obliged to take care of their parents. They can repay the hardships their parents went through when they become parents themselves. In Norway, we have a sort of place where the elderly have their own apartments and are living alone but they have assistants on certain things. If they can’t do anything at all they will be placed in an intensive care for the elderly. Despite that arrangement people still visit their elderly around twice or thrice a week. I usually visit my Norwegian grandma there twice or thrice a week.
if the elderly parent is under the care of his children, and the children are neglecting the parent on purpose to inflict pain, humiliation, etc. or has resulted to the same, then, i believe, that the children should be held liable, not because they are children and are supposed to take care of their elderly parents, but because the act is contrary human good will.
now, if the question is if the children should take on their shoulder the responsibility to care for their parents when they grow old, then i dare say that it is not their responsibility and that they should not be held liable for not doing so. the parents have responsibilty over the care of their children. they created life thus they should ensure that the person they have created should grow and become a good citizen. i dare say this is not the case with children over their parents. children have no power over having parents, as it is a given. children cannot choose when to have parents. thus, it is not right to force unto someone a contract s/he has not approved of. the children’s parents are the children’s grandparents’ responsibility. since it is almost always impossible for the latter (because of physical/mortal limitations) to take care for their elderly children (the parents), then the responsibility of caring for the elderly is passed on to the state as the embodiment of society in general. children, from time to time, may take the responsibility of caring for their elderly parents not because of duty, but because of compassion, love.
hmmm., interesting motion., i bet this would be an issue on culture and blah blah., whichever side you put it, gov or oppo., and wherever setting we put., be it philippines or any other place.,
another question here is how do we qualify the term neglect.., coz neglect can be of different levels., hehehe.,
Consider that for parents, a significant amount of opportunity to secure one’s prosperity even in old age is lost because of expenses incurred in raising kids and ensuring their happiness. It is but rightful that the give-and-take principle be applied in resolving this issue.
I agree with Aloyloy. Parents who neglect their children are criminally liable. Do we have such a law in our country?
Sorry for the late comments. You should have included your link in your post in pex, hehehe.
i am 20yrs old. not done with college. i have to work for my sisters.
my dad just told me that I am responsible of helping him, understand that my parents can’t provide me a good life. and i am responsible of taking care of him for he was able to send me to a private school(elem. and hi.school).and also i am responsible for him for he is my father.
all this things made me think that do i rili have a reponsiblity to take care of my parents??
my doctor once told me my parents do not have the right to demand from their children and ask for their children to take care of them. it is the right of the child to be provided with good life it may not be like rich life but provide good education it doesn’t matter private or public. mold their child to become a better citizen someday. also children do have the power who and when to have parents not same as parents they have the time to think when to have children and how many children they want to have and how to mold them also the parents have the time for them to prepare themselves when to become one.
basically, from the start the parents should be responsible for their children and not the other way around. it with the parents on how they mold their children how much they’ve shown kindness and love for their children for definitely children will pay back all the goodness and suffering the parents has done for their kids.
and since my father haven’t showed me one. he did not even qualify as a father to all his children including me. definitely i will not take care of him when he gets old. only my mom and my sisters. my father passed his responsibility to me and to my mother. and now he was bragging about how he was and he was able to provide and so he has the right to demand form us his children.
i laughed if he could have shown us love and humbled himself. i could have thought of including him as my responsibility even to his grave..
can a child file a case for a father like this and so emotionally abusive?? and physically abusive sometimes?? where can i ask for help??