Denying Last Rites in the name of Security

There’s just been a complete loss of perspective about what really matters

9 comments:

Aggie said...

Good thing the brits gave up their guns and sharp knives to keep their freedoms.

E Hines said...

It gets better, right here in good ol' USA.

Minnesota, this time, as wasn't clear until down the comment thread.

https://twitter.com/BonifaceOption/status/1449001344942096385

Eric Hines

douglas said...

Well, what you think really matters, or what *they* think really matters? That's the issue.

douglas said...

Mr. Hines- great thread. Saw one response there that was important- carry proof of power of attorney with you so you can't be denied, and you can always force discharge AMA if it comes to that.

E Hines said...

Douglas, you're assuming those in power would honor the PoA. At best, those like this hospital's authorities will contest the legitimacy of the document, signed, as it would be, by such an obviously mentally impaired individual, and drag out the matter until it...became moot.

Do the PoA, certainly, for formal legality, but don't rely on it. Better, maybe, to personally enforce the document and just go in and get the loved one and take her/him out, forcing the hospital immediately to defend its (likely illegal) detention publicly and in court.

Eric Hines

Texan99 said...

My state senator sent this summary of proposed constitutional amendment 6 on the Texas November ballot, which would "would grant residents of long-term care facilities the right to designate an essential caregiver for in-person visitation, ensuring that residents had access to an essential caregiver at all times, with limited exceptions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, visitation restrictions in long-term care facilities were difficult for residents and their families, as well as for facility staff. Many residents were isolated and lacked connection and physical touch from loved ones for several months, and as a result of these restrictions, some patients died alone. By allowing residents to designate an essential caregiver, Proposition 6 would ensure vulnerable Texans had access to loved ones, which could improve residents’ physical and mental health." I haven't been able to figure out what the "limited exceptions" are, except for a reference to bureaucrats' right to develop some kind of time, place, and manner policies.

E Hines said...

About the only "limited exception" that I can see would be if the designated essential caregiver were sick with a communicable disease--being barred while contagious would seem reasonable, so long as it was the designated person's own physician who certified the end of the contagious period, and not anyone associated with the care facility.

An added fillip I'd like to see to the Senator's proposal would be the designated person being able to remove the resident from the facility on demand.

Eric Hines

E Hines said...

only "limited exception" that I can see should have been only "limited exception" that I can see that would be legitimate

Eric Hines

Aggie said...

The Assisted Living facility where a certain elderly member of my family is staying has such a protocol, and there are two of us designated as primary caregivers. Of course, there have been times when the facility has been under varying degrees of lockdown due to the perceived COVID threats and actual elevated concerns of cases internally.

Tell you what we did - when we moved this family member in, we got a ground floor room with a small outside porch, surrounded by waist-high railing. Makes it easy to pass supplies over, when there's a full lockdown going on. Makes it easy to hop over and go in to put them away too, just sayin'. A few years in Oil & Gas operations is a wonderful education on practical problem solving.