Rivalry between adult children can be a cause of worry for infirm elderly parents as conflicts can come in the way of care they receive when they are infirm. Inter personal conflicts of any matter, conflict regarding the parents care or sharing financial responsibility can be a spoil sport for the infirm parents care.

When children being primary care givers and making decisions on behalf of their older parents, especially when the parents do not have an advance directives or plan for their old age, these conflicts in the immediate family can be a serious concern. Many crucial decisions like hospitalisation, treatment interventions, selection of care facility or assisted living home, becomes a bone of contention when there is rivalry between children who care for their parents.

In such cases, quality of care they receive get compromised because it is the convenience not the welfare of the elderly. In the typical Indian scenario, social gerontologists like us have seen frequent change in living spaces (Shuttling between each children), change in care personnel’s, may be the results of rivalry between children and such ‘disturbances’ to the lives of infirm older adults leads to inferior care.