Rights And Choices Of An Individual With Dementia

This paper is written to discuss the ethical dilemma we come across when asking our self whether or not we should place a tube feeding in a patient with a history Alzheimer’s or Dementia. Will this prolong the patients’ life or just the inevitable death? Most often a decision needs to be made regarding the placement of a tube feeding. The question is not initiated by the patient themselves. This is the reason why educating our patients are so important. In this paper I will discuss how important the role of the healthcare professional plays in advocating for a patient. To help answer this ethical dilemma several issues will be explored. I will focus on the seven principles of ethics, education, utilitarianism, top-down

All forms of dementia can affect the way a person communicates, so in time they may have to find different ways of expressing themselves and their feelings. As a carer your non-verbal communication will become important, your body language, facial expressions, gestures, eye contact and tone of voice will have to be taken into account when you are communicating with a sufferer. In the early stages of some forms of dementia people may have difficulty finding the right word they are looking for, and in the later stages of some forms of dementia the words could be lost completely. As the dementia progresses, it gets a lot

Individuals with dementia have impairment in mental capacity and people can discriminate against when it comes to exercise their rights. People with dementia face a poor quality of life which lead the person to be isolated and loss his self esteem.

Also a person with dementia has very poor or no short term memory at all, so when it comes to making descisions the answer may change quite alot because they have poor memory recall they may say yes one minute then say no to the exact same question because they cant remember what was asked before hand.

People who have dementia are not aware of requirements for living. They can forget to do the essential things that are vital. Taking medicines, hygiene and even eating are often forgotten. They can get lost or hurt and not understand what is necessary to correct a situation. Turning on the cooker or water and forgetting to turn it off again, locking doors, crossing streets etc can all be dangerous even deadly. In the same way as you would not think an infant capable of self care, a person with dementia cannot be either. Considering the facts that they cannot act in the manner of a

1.4 The impact the behaviours of carers and others may have on an individual with dementia include becoming more confused and frustrated as they do not understand what you are telling, are using body language that suggests something different to what you are saying. They may feel you are telling them off or

Cognitive: depending on the type of dementia a person has they may have trouble in recognising the food in front of them or not understand that the food provided is for them, they may even view the food in front of them as food. This can be caused by their minds not recognising what is in front of them.

3.2 Whilst care  support staff  always  strives  to  ensure  people  with  dementia receive  the  best standard  of  care,  there  are  times  when  there  may  be  conflicts  of  interest between  company  policies,  staff  code  of  conduct and  the  individual. However, it is important to  ensure  all  parties  interests are  taken  care  of  and  most importantly  the  rights  and  wishes  of  the  individual.

The resident faces the medical problem of being a dementia patient. The result of this has caused anger, physical assault and incontinence after restraining the resident. The social issues that are presented is Mrs Alston lives in an aged care facility that is not only sectioned for residents with high care needs but also other residents with the same degree of illness. Another problem is that she has been taking other people’s belongings.

Dementia individuals require a regular routine in their life, for instance; feeling comfortable and knowing their surroundings, the carers should ideally be faces they know well, rather then brought in for the day bank staff. When the regular routine is thrown off kilter, dementia individuals can feel confused, annoyed and unbalanced.

People with dementia don’t know what they want or can’t communicate what they want Dementia is a natural part of aging Once you have dementia there is nothing you can do Only the elderly get dementia People with dementia can’t understand what’s going on I should correct what a dementia sufferer says when they are wrong There is nothing I can do to lower my risk of dementia

Dementia patients are often anxious, confused, and unsure of themselves. Often recall things that never really happened.

Scientists today are still trying to find a cure but they say it could take up to 30 years before they reach something. Aggression is a very common side effect of dementia and for this, they will give medication to the patient to calm them down, usually this is a chemical restraint. The only other medication that is really used for helping some of the side effects and symptom’s of dementia are antipsychotic’s. These are used to again help with the aggression and the delirium some patient’s with dementia may suffer with. Some people may also feel a lot of denial about what is happening and choose to blame and take it out on other people. They do not feel like they are the same person and cannot figure out why they are feeling this way. This puts a lot of strain and tension on personal relationships with family and caregivers, if they are in a care

According to Hoyert and Rosenberg (1997), Alzheimer’s “complicates [the] treatment of other medical conditions” (p. 112). Patient’s behavior is sometimes unpredictable, which can make it difficult for health care providers to provide quality care. The patient may be willing to participate in a particular health related action and then suddenly be very resistant. It may be hard for healthcare providers to create a health plan that patients will consistently follow. Patients with Alzheimer’s may also forget to take a medication that may be necessary to the treatment of illness.

The purpose of this essay is to look at dementia in details and get a clear understanding of the level at which this condition affects the society and how it raises public health concern. According to the NHS Choices (2010), Dementia is said to be a condition that carries a group of related symptoms, associated with an ongoing decline in the performance of the brain and its abilities. This condition affects the individual’s memory, thinking, language, and understanding together with judgment abilities. Therefore this essay will be analysing concerns, targets and health promotion initiatives by the government regarding dementia.