Well, I think Scientific American just identified some of the objective criteria on my quality-of-life scale:
"Study: Meals out of reach for many older patients".
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many elderly hospital patients may suffer from malnutrition simply because they cannot get to their food and nurses are too busy to help them, according to a study by two Australian researchers.
Helen McCutcheon, head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of South Australia, and colleague Chenfan Xia observed mealtimes in an acute care facility and found that one fifth of the 48 patients aged 65 and older could not reach food brought to their hospital rooms.
More than half could not open food packaging and more than a third struggled with cutlery. Others complained they were not sitting up properly to eat, and many struggled to pour beverages.
Malnourishment is common among older patients, with 60 percent becoming more poorly nourished while they are hospitalized, Xia said in a statement."
While I normally like to see larger sample sizes in studies, I'm willing to take this one at face value...
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