Choices we'd Rather Not Have First there was Sophie's Choice - "keep your son or your daughter." Now Dick Turpin's Choice seems to be approaching. You can pay with your life if you don't want to hand over your money, or struggle with your local social services for social care. In 1999 the Royal Commission "With Respect to Old Age: Long Term Care - Rights and Responsibilities" studied the question of social care as distinct from nursing care for old people who needed it. The majority report recommended that the Government should continue to fund it. However Lord Joffe and Mr David Lipsey (now Lord Lipsey) thought otherwise and their minority report was acted on by the Government. Lord Joffe will introduce his "Assisted Dying" Bill again in the House of Lords early in 2006.
	Highwayman's Choice

Poorer families struggling to meet care bills for elderly

Alice,108, starves herself to death

The Business of Caring
(King’s Fund Inquiry into care services for older people in London)