As the median age of the population increases, the care and housing of the elderly in the U.S. are of increasing concern. Jeanie Kayser-Jones compares a typical private institution in the U.S. with a government-owned home in Scotland.

Her analysis compels attention to the systematic abuse of the institutionalized elderly in the U.S.

Jeanie Schmit Kayser-Jones is Professor of Medical Anthropology and Gerontological Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco.