Bioethics
Bioethical issues and the long-term-care facility.
Nursing Homes Long Term Care Management | March 01, 1988 | Kaufman, Anna |Copyright
Death and dying have now moved from being a taboo subject to one that is the basis for books, research studies, magazine articles, and television programs. In the past, death was a more private matter, usually occurring at home. Now, over 85 percent of deaths happen under medical supervision, usually in a hospital or nursing home. Another change that has taken place with time is the medical developments that have made death more a matter of deliberate decision; e.g., organ transplants, kidney dialysis. Still another change has begun to be apparent.
Until fairly recently, with a doctor caring for a person, the patient and his family often deferred to the doctor's decision. As a social work consultant in nursing homes, this writer has become aware of more and more people beginning to be more actively involved with medical decisions affecting them. They have been asking more questions of their doctors, and asking for more medical information. That applies not only to the patients, but to their families as well. Medical malpractice cases have become more frequent, making it increasingly necessary for physicians to share medical information with the patient and his family, and to involve them more in medical decisions. The issue of bioethics and bioethical decisions has become vitally important.
With elderly residents of nursing homes, there are specific areas of medical decisions for which bioethics have to be given serious consideration. Added to that is the factor of whether an elderly person is mentally alert or has deficiencies in his cognitive capacities. Two major matters of frequent occurrence in the nursing home are (1) the use of a NG tube when a patient is not taking adequate nourishment and/or fluids orally; and (2) sending the patient to an acute hospital for more aggressive treatment that cannot be provided in the
Nursing Homes Long Term Care Management | March 01, 1988 | Kaufman, Anna |Copyright
Death and dying have now moved from being a taboo subject to one that is the basis for books, research studies, magazine articles, and television programs. In the past, death was a more private matter, usually occurring at home. Now, over 85 percent of deaths happen under medical supervision, usually in a hospital or nursing home. Another change that has taken place with time is the medical developments that have made death more a matter of deliberate decision; e.g., organ transplants, kidney dialysis. Still another change has begun to be apparent.
Until fairly recently, with a doctor caring for a person, the patient and his family often deferred to the doctor's decision. As a social work consultant in nursing homes, this writer has become aware of more and more people beginning to be more actively involved with medical decisions affecting them. They have been asking more questions of their doctors, and asking for more medical information. That applies not only to the patients, but to their families as well. Medical malpractice cases have become more frequent, making it increasingly necessary for physicians to share medical information with the patient and his family, and to involve them more in medical decisions. The issue of bioethics and bioethical decisions has become vitally important.
With elderly residents of nursing homes, there are specific areas of medical decisions for which bioethics have to be given serious consideration. Added to that is the factor of whether an elderly person is mentally alert or has deficiencies in his cognitive capacities. Two major matters of frequent occurrence in the nursing home are (1) the use of a NG tube when a patient is not taking adequate nourishment and/or fluids orally; and (2) sending the patient to an acute hospital for more aggressive treatment that cannot be provided in the