["Ageism": prejudice against age].

Abstract

Prejudices against the aged are called ageism. A case demonstrates its obscure effects. Ageism is seen as antipathy or hate, too. But a common societal reality of ageism is not being able to take different perspectives. Seeing the challenge of a concrete clinical situation means varying the ethical perspectives both care and fairness. According to that, "multidimensional" assessment characterizes geriatrics. Examples for not being able to take varying perspectives are given when adults are confronted with suicide, sexuality/tenderness, convictions, depression, religiosity, reduced memory capacity, quality of life, incontinence, dying etc. of the aged. The paper shows three ways of controlling cognitive and affective dimensions of prejudices in general.