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Helping Residents Live at Risk

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2003

ALISTER BROWNE
Affiliation:
Langara College, Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, University of British Columbia, and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association
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Extract

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Residents in long-term care facilities and rehab hospitals sometimes ask healthcare professionals (HCPs) to help them do things that HCPs judge to be on balance harmful. A person with respiratory problems may ask for a cigarette, a diabetic for alcohol, a dysphagiac for food or fluids by mouth, a person at risk for falling for her walker, and so on. These requests raise two kinds of problems. The first pits residents against HCPs. Should HCPs ever help residents do what they consider harmful? The second pits HCPs against HCPs. If HCPs disagree among themselves—some thinking that the resident should receive the assistance, others thinking not—what should be done?

Type
SPECIAL SECTION: PRAXIS: ETHICAL ISSUES IN MEDICAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press