Assisted Living Center Gives Residents Independence To Wander Off And Die On Their Own

NEW YORK—Emphasizing the importance of helping elderly Americans maintain their dignity, officials from Silver Spring assisted living center told reporters Wednesday that they strove to give residents the independence to wander off and die on their own. “Our philosophy at Silver Spring has always been to give our older tenants the freedom and space they need to walk through the front door, fall down somewhere out of sight, and perish far away from prying eyes,” said Silver Spring director Greg Antoine, who described how the center strived to make residents feel like equals to the staff, allowing them to cook their own meals and start a fire that would consume their bodies, or to head out alone for a grocery store run on which they could be hit by a truck. “In fact, whenever our swim classes start, our attendants just leave the room for a few hours. When they come back, some residents are floating facedown. That’s their choice, and we respect that. It’s demeaning to deprive them of that sort of liberty just because they’re a bit older.” Antoine added that the center’s rules even gave more functional residents the chance to get in a car and drive directly off a cliff.