Establishing by law that elderly, disabled and non-self-sufficient people can be treated and assisted when the age of care workers approaches 65 years is in sharp and dangerous contrast to logic.
Practicing a strenuous job, although certain categories are not yet recognized among the professions that deteriorate mind and body, means putting the safety of workers over 60 at risk and also compromising the health of the assisted. This displeases and worries people in need of care and assistance and their families.
The logic would require the Medical Association to report to the Government the danger of a law that forces care workers over 60 to treat and assist elderly, disabled and non self-sufficient people. General practitioners have the pulse of sickness certificates required as age progresses and work harms the body and mind.
Labor consultants, experts in taxation and social security matters, should also report to the Government the inherent risk of a law that requires retirement at an advanced age. Consultants know very well that strenuous jobs cause injuries to workers and clients.
The same employers, starting from the Monti-Fornero law of 2011, should have taken steps to better manage the workload, taking into account that being twenty, forty or sixty is not the same thing. Just think of the different cardiovascular and respiratory responses in climbing three flights of stairs of a twenty year old, a forty year old and a sixty year old.
Silence – at times it seems a sort of resigned indifference or inability to use logic – has a ruinous effect on everyone. Also because the same GPs and counselors and employers may need care and assistance either for themselves or for their family members. It is not a threat, but rational evidence. At that point, complaining about unsatisfactory professional performance would have meant an inappropriate and unreasonable outburst. Much better to use logic in order to avoid negative effects that are difficult to compensate with whining, letters of protest and hysterical complaints.