Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic put to test modern society’s integrity in equal treatment of older adults, most visibly in terms of healthcare services. Media reports suggest that older adults were discriminated from availing medical services equitable to their younger counterparts in many parts of the world. This chapter is an exploration of the socio-ethical determinants across the world nations in determining the value of older people’s life when it comes to a pandemic situation. The research involves a primary ethical discourse on equal opportunities for older adults in the background of the theory of human dignity. A content analysis of media reports in English language media was made to assess the “denial of equal healthcare opportunities” for older adults. Healthcare professionals with COVID-19 working exposure from India and England (50 each) were interviewed online to understand their perceptions on the discrimination of older adults in the healthcare sector during the pandemic; out of which, five from each country were further interviewed in-depth to capture the picture of the ethical concerns and practical dimensions in the context of the pandemic. The findings suggest that older adults were underprivileged in the healthcare sector during the pandemic. While most healthcare professionals consider it unethical to discriminate against people based on their age in availing healthcare services, they consider that it is justifiable to some extent in the pandemic context throwing light on agist perceptions.
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Appendices
Appendix 1 Healthcare Professionals’ Rationale for Prioritizing Young People (Generated Using Atlas.ti from the Interviews of Healthcare Professionals)
Appendix 2 Thought Flow Pattern of Healthcare Professionals from the UK and India
Keywords used by the healthcare professionals from the UK (Generated using Voyant Tools from the Interviews of healthcare professionals)
Network of rationalization patterns of healthcare professionals from the UK (Generated using Voyant Tools from the Interviews of healthcare professionals)
Keywords used by the healthcare professionals from India (Generated using Voyant Tools from the Interviews of healthcare professionals)
Network of rationalization patterns of healthcare professionals from India (Generated using Voyant Tools from the Interviews of healthcare professionals)
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Choolayil, A.C., Putran, L. (2022). Older Adults and Health Equity. In: Baikady, R., Sajid, S., Przeperski, J., Nadesan, V., Rezaul, I., Gao, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68127-2_291-1
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