"Would it have made any practical difference if she'd been found the day after she died, rather than eight years later?"

Yes, to everyone else but her: to her heirs, to the council, to the power-supplier, to her neighbours, to people who are looking for a place to live, etc.

None of that justifies intruding on her life while she was alive.

Good question.

>>Would it have made any practical difference if she'd been found the day after she died, rather than eight years later?<<

Only that the "eight years" made it news. Otherwise it would not have made page 3 of The Australian.

But I suspect the reason that the "eight years" is news in the first place, is not about the neglect, or the lack of neighbourliness, or the dereliction of a Council's duty of care (whatever that might be).

It's about our fears over the manner of our own death.

So very... untidy.

Hello Lexi,
I agree with you, one would think that untouched funds in the Bank, letters hanging out of the mail box, and the general sense that nobody was 'home' would have, and should have set the alarm bells ringing.
Neighbors do not necessarily need to live in each others pockets, but I thought that it was the Austalian way to check on your neighbours, especially the elderly, every so often to make sure that they are not ill, or perhaps have broken a leg. Have we become too self centred that we are the only centred upon our selves and couldn't give a damn? if that is the case then I am appalled, perhaps those of us who are Seniors these days were raised in an era where people didn't have to be told to watch out for others, it sort of came naturally.
Pity we cannot turn back the clock.
Noisy Scrub Bird.

I don't think it matters a damn, how long the lady was dead. The thing that worries me is how she, & others like her, have died, & how long it may have taken.

Towards the end of my mothers life I found her, in her granny flat, on the floor, a couple of times. She had not fallen, but had obviously got down too low, to look in a low cupboard, & could not get back up.

She would potter most of the night, & sleep most of the day, so she could be moving around for 8 hours or so, between visits sometimes.

From her mid 90's she would often forget how to work the emergency call button around her neck. I shudder to think how long she, or any other, may lie there dying, in such circumstances.

Surely we could afford a daily check on the more infirm. A caller could make them a cup of tea as justification for checking on those more reclusive oldies.

Many of them could afford to pay a small price for this help, they don't spend all of their pension, as they eat or use so little.