Walk-in Bath TV Commercial

            This commercial captures one of the greatest anxieties regarding aging; dignity and independence.  The aging man, Jim, has restricted mobility.  His wife tells the camera that she could help him with a lot of things and the commercial cuts to a shot of her helping Jim out of a car and up the stairs.  “What I could not help him regain”, says Jim’s wife, “was his dignity.”  In this commercial, Jim’s was being deprived of his dignity because his immobility made him less independent.  “He wanted to be able to do everything himself”, his wife tells us.  Getting in and out of the bathtub is one of those things.  Here is the TV commercial:

              This product certainly fills a need.  Any activity that someone who’s mobility and independence has diminished with age would appreciate having one less thing to rely on others for; especially something as intimate as getting in the bath.  The commercial also plays on the caregiver’s desire for their loved one to have that dignity as well as having one less daily responsibility.  There is nothing wrong with this or with the idea if the product.  Still, a far more constructive message would have been that there is nothing shameful about needing assistance in old age.  Jim may be able to get into the shower alone with this new bathtub but he still needs help up the stairs.  Since he is still not doing “everything himself”, is his dignity still out of reach or only partially restored?  Do special furnishings have the potential of restoring that dignity?  A chair lift up the stairs would prevent the need for his wife to brace him as he climbs and a van with a specially fitted ramp and door and a wheel chair would prevent the need for Jim to be lifted to his feet.  Is that really more dignified than being assisted by those that the elderly man had assisted and provided for his whole life?  The issue is not whether or not some aids for independent functioning should be used.  The issue is the degree to which they should be used and the feeling that mechanical solutions to immobility are more dignified than relying on loved ones as caregivers.