Ethical Issues In Dementia Patients

Long-term care assists individuals who cannot adequately perform their routine activities of daily living. These activities include dressing, bathing, walking, meal preparation, and taking medications ( Batnitzk,A.,Hayes,D.,& Vinall,P.E. 2014,(c. 5.1). These services are typically for clients over the age of 65 years old and is used to promote independence and security for those who cannot take care of their needs due to illness or debility (c.6.1). The type of provider will depend on the type of care a client needs. For instance, some elderly people that need help with food preparations or everyday activities will request to stay at home and have a family member take care of them. This is one way that long-term care is rendered but is unpaid.

Sharing information about the patient’s health status helps to create continuity of care between the medical staff and family members involved in the patients care. As stated in the textbook Leddy & Pepper 's Conceptual Bases of Professional Nursing (2014), “Patient-centered care was created in efforts to improve quality and safety in nursing and healthcare emphasizing the importance of patient-centered care, during which nurses use a holistic care approach considering each patient’s personal preferences, values, family situations, religious and cultural traditions, and specific life- style”

Discuss what is required to disclose patient information to family members, friends, and when ordered by courts or government

You need to be able to maintain good confidentiality. Confidentiality is really important within the health and social care settings because it’s their personal information that you have of them and should be taken in account. The information includes their past history and present such as choices and preferences, medical history, family, work etc. it’s important that you do not share their information to others as it can be a big risk for them and their family. However confidentiality is important as it can help you to identify the medical history of that person and how you help their health and well-being.

I would tell patients who inquire about passed patients would be that "I will find out where they are or what has happen to them" and will get with back with them. It is important for me not to release too much information because of HIPAA rules. Releasing personal or medial information without a written consent can get me in big trouble. If I know its a close friend I will ask the family if its ok for me to tell the patient who ask about their relative's condition or whereabouts. Its always better to ask for permission to release information that way your not breaking any privacy rules.

Confidentiality in the Healthcare arena can be simply defined as the moral and ethical duty of the Practitioner to keep all the patient’s bio-data under lock and key, and offer a disclosure of those facts that the patient is legally mandated to disclose or deems fit to enhance their positive health outcome. According to the Segen’s Medical Dictionary, “Confidentiality is the ethical principle that a physician may not reveal any information disclosed in the course of medical care, unless the patient who disclosed that information poses a threat to him, herself or others’’

For many psychologists and specialist nurses this an exciting opportunity to invest their skills, knowledge, and expertise in the diagnostic process (Murphy & Gair, 2013, Page et al. 2008). However, the disclosure of a diagnosis is a difficult part of a clinician's practice (Bamford et al. 2004) and has been identified as one of the five most difficult aspects of dementia care (Rae, McIntosh, & Colles, 2001). The ethical and practical issues in disclosing a dementia diagnosis still remains a subject of lively debate and one that is likely to continue given the new role and responsibilities provided to multi disciplinary team professionals (e.g. Carpenter, 2008, Murphy & Gair, 2013; Raicher & Carmaelli, 2008). This research proposal will therefore attempt to throw light upon these debates, drawing upon literature from a diverse range of sources that will help add value and improve nursing practice in giving a

acutely ill patients. The nurse should allow the family to observe care and explain the

The patient must be questioned directly about the risks. If not possible, the family members and other care providers must be questioned for information(Balaratnasingam, 2015). In some cases when the situation is complex, experienced colleague or specialist is seek for help. The interviewer must be cam, polite, objective and creative enough to extract information from the patient. The nurse must carefully listen to the story with full empathy. This will lead to a good therapeutic relationship and will give good outcome (Balaratnasingam,

A care team will go about doing this in different ways, but when it is done, good and clear communication as well as support and comfort for the person living with an illness, not dying from an illness, is essential. The dying process is not an easy one to cope with, nor is being the person whose job it is to tell the patient, family and friends that the person is dying from a terminal illness. A care team will arrange an appropriate day and time to speak with first the patient and then family, or both at the same time if that is what is desired. Every case can be different, and I believe no case necessarily goes the same as the last. Sometimes, “having loved ones attend consultations with patients can have benefits, but when information needs differ, this presents the doctor with a difficult situation” (Furber, Bonas, Murtagh, & Thomas, 2015, p. 263). Sometimes, one family member has a more difficult time understanding the information being given by the doctor compared to another. When this occurs, the doctor is put in an even more difficult situation when he must try and further explain to the friends and/or family by restating the information maybe in a different way but still relaying the same vital information. I have seen families where some are content and understand that there is not anything they can do while others are

Truth-telling is an important issue within the nurse-patient relationship. Nurses make decisions on a daily basis regarding what information to tell patients. The specific issue in question is whether a nurse should abide by the Code of Ethics for Nurses by revealing the truth to the patient or refrain from telling the truth to the patient because they are respecting the wishes of the patient’s family. Nurses and health care professionals should always tell the truth to their patients unless the patient forgoes their rights to autonomy or cannot think for themselves. By providing the patient with the truth, they allow the patient to come to terms with their conditions and give them the options for further treatment.

An ethical dilemma that I have dealt with when caring for someone with dementia would be when the person with dementia asks for a loved one that is no longer living. When someone with dementia asks about someone that has passed away it is very hard to tell them the truth. There are two things that someone can do in this situation. The dilemma here would be to lie to the person with dementia and tell him or her that their loved one is still alive when they ask for them and go along with what they are talking about or to tell them the truth about their loved one over and over again when they asks for them.

Symptom management of Dementia at end of life is often sub-optimal, although symptom burdens may be similar to cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or advanced heart failure. Dementia may exist with several co-morbid conditions, and death may occur from various causes (Jones et al., 2015). Ethical issues arise in the work place a lot and they are something that can be hard to navigate your way around. Knowing what the right thing to do can be a hard decision to make as a nurse. There are many aspects that go into making an ethical decision when it comes to your patients well being. Ethical issues are not black and white, they are complex, and the right decision might not be the easiest one to make. Dementia is

When discussing the ethical issues at play for the use of sMRI and fMRI as biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease detection some facts must be taken into account. When it comes to medical tests even the best possible tests available can be prone to some degree of false positive or false negative results. The ethical issue here is what percentage of successful diagnoses are deemed beneficial enough to out weight the potential of a possible wrong diagnosis. Diagnosing a patient with Alzheimer’s disease who doesn’t, or a patient with pre-Alzheimer’s disease when they don’t could have a huge psychological impact on that person’s life in a negative way. If a cure isn’t discovered but a pre-symptomatic detection test was, the scenario raises a few ethical

Moreover, the family understands the specifics about the individual's condition and their daily routines. This can help health care professionals to decide if the person is following the proper steps in their therapy. Once this takes place, is the point that health care professionals can make adjustments to reflect changing realities. Those patients, who have their families involved, will be able to receive better care by ensuring that nothing is overlooked. This is the point that physicians will have a more complete picture surrounding their underlying levels of health. (Saleeba, 2009)