Mrs. Kay Case Study Essay

This case study involves a 93 year-old woman, who will be referred to as Mrs. Kay. She is currently living in an assisted living facility and diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). She is of Greek ethnic background and is of the Greek Orthodox religion. Her power of attorney is a neighbor, who Mrs. Kay accepts as closest person to family. Mrs. Kay is the last living of her biological family in the United States and of her immediate family. She lives in a single room on the 6th floor. She was admitted to hospice care a year and a half ago and has remained on hospice continuously since then, due to her steady decline in health.
Recently, she has been displaying signs of depression such as refusing to eat, crying heavily,
Kay, several ethical concerns arose. The ethical concerns were centered on two main aspects: Mrs. Kay’s cultural and religious underpinnings that were possibly contributing to her depressive feelings and the possibility that the pain medications are affecting her cognition. The social worker will utilizes a strength-based perspective with Mrs. Kay, which will permit her to feel encouraged to keep her culture and faith identities as most if not all cultures promote a healthy life style. The social worker will have to address the importance of religion and/or spirituality and culture in regards to Mrs. Kay’s belief. Normally, the social worker does not address much of the religious aspect with patients, since the chaplain is expected to do this. Since Mrs. Kay has never spoken to the social worker about religion before, the social worker is concerned that this may be a difficult area to explore. The aspect of the medication causing cognitive impairments will require the social worker to communicate with medical staff and educate herself about the side effects of the medications. The social worker should also conduct a cognitive assessment to determine Mrs. Kay’s orientation to place, situation, person, and time. If Mrs. Kay is unable to perform appropriately on the cognitive assessment then, the social worker will have to find an alternate intervention that can assist Mrs. Kay as much as possible. Interventions, such as