Sending people to care homes in lower-income countries: A qualified defence

Abstract

In recent years, a proportion of older Germans has been sent to relatively high-end care homes within lower-income countries where the care tends to be cheaper and more extensive than that in German care homes. Destination countries are found predominantly within Eastern Europe (e.g. Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic), but to a lesser extent also within South-East Asia (e.g. Thailand). At the same time, these expatriations have caused much controversy, with some German commentators calling them ‘inhumane’ and ‘shameful’. In this article, I argue that such criticisms are overdrawn. Although sending an older individual to a care home within a lower-income country can be morally impermissible, I find that there are at least three sets of conditions under which it is not.