Sex in Geriatrics Sets Hebrew Home Apart in Elderly Care

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-23/sex-in-geriatrics-sets-hebrew-home-apart-in-elderly-care.html

The nurse was frantic. She’d just seen two elderly people having sex in a room at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, New York. She asked Daniel A. Reingold, then the home’s executive vice president, what she should do.

“Tiptoe out and close the door so you don’t disturb them,” he told her.

Today, Reingold likes to recount the 19-year-old tale to show why the Hebrew Home broke with industry practice and encouraged sex and intimacy among its elderly residents, including those with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

In 1995, the home adopted a four-page policy -- considered the first of its kind -- stating that residents “have the right to seek out and engage in sexual expression,” including “words, gestures, movements or activities which appear motivated by the desire for sexual gratification.”

[CanSocDem]

1. oh oh....

More deviant sexuality for the American public on the horizon. Soon we'll be discussing the upper levels of age-appropriate sexuality. We have already, sort of, established the lower levels, so this should be easy.

There is a nagging suspicion, however, that we are missing the point.


.

[Nay]

2. In these cases, I wonder how it is determined that a person with dementia can consent

to sex with other residents in a nursing home? That seems problematic to me. Especially the male->female angle; even in old age, many men are much stronger than women, so how do you determine consent, if the female has dementia or Alzheimer's?

[Ilsa]

4. If they are non compos mentis, they cannot, agree

from what I understood. And it might be safer if they didn't.

For example, if a woman in the middle of intercourse has a flashback of a rape because she has dementia, she might attempt to hurt an earnest lover.

[CTyankee]

3. I think sexual intimacy with your partner as you age is highly desireable and one of the healthiest

things you can do in your life. As long as both partners are in agreement, I think it is a most wonderful experience to have for as long as you both want it.