Make allowances for aged

LIFE is a cycle, you were born helpless and, in serious old age, you could end up helpless.The natural aging process involves having millions of brain cells dying every day.

Older people experience varying degrees of short term memory loss.

They experience them first as "senior moments" and may even occasionally result in "losing the plot". When you lose the plot you may even be punished by your loved ones and society. Let me explain:

I have an acquaintance who temporally lost the plot at the age of 85. Due to circumstances he had to downscale to the cheapest medical aid which was a network option by which he could only go to specified doctors and other service providers.

During a "senior moment" he reasoned to save petrol he should go to the nearest medical centre. The outcome was four accounts totalling in excess of R7000 (his monthly pension was one third of this amount).

I approached his medical aid with the plea to consider covering the fees equivalent to what they would have been accountable for if he had used the specified service providers and he pay the difference. This plea fell on deaf ears.

In my language this is equivalent to punishing him for "losing the plot". Surely medical aids should recognise that these sort of symptoms can happen to aging people?

James Morey, Lorraine, Port Elizabeth