老化是生命過程的實然面貌，您、我都會老；不過，活得老，卻不一定活得好。我們還有選擇的機會嗎？這是攸關生存公義的重要問題，是我們應當思惟的課題。首先，老化伴隨著失能，我們必須關切他們的健康照護需求是什麼？然後，才知道如何滿足他們的照顧；其次，誰應該滿足這些需求？如何來滿足他們的需求，是家庭或者是政府應該承擔的責任。再來，我們應當追尋老人照顧與期待是否存在落差，如果有落差那麼因素是什麼，應該如何解決。本文企圖檢討這些問題，並前往日本實地考察，探討究竟失能的老人是否仍享有生命的尊嚴與幸福人生的機會，以提出建置長期照護服務之具體建議。

Ageing is an unavoidable process in human life. Everybody including you and me is getting older. However, to live longer does not mean to live well. Do we still have opportunities to choose the way we would like to live? This is a significant issue related to existence integrity and what we should think about. First, ageing sometimes accompanies disabilities. We have to be concerned about what the health care needs of the elderly are, and then know how to meet their demand. Second, who should offer the demand? How could their demand be satisfied? Whose responsibility is it, family's or government’s? Next, we should explore the discrepancies between the actual care and anticipative care of the elderly with disabilities and reasons of these discrepancies, and find the way to solve the problems. This study is to discuss above-mentioned issues, for which we had some observations in Japan in order to explore whether the elderly with disabilities can have opportunities to have the dignity and welfare of life and to provide practical suggestions in establishing long-term care services.