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Examining Ethical Issues that Arise in Providing ED/hospital Care for Patients Experiencing Elder Mistreatment and Approaches to Address Them

NCJ Number
309706
Journal
Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect Volume: 36 Issue: 4 (SI) Dated: August 2024 Pages: 395-412
Date Published
August 2024
Length
19 pages
Annotation

This article discusses the role of a hospital clinical ethics consultation service and best practices for collaboration between ethics and elder mistreatment consultation services; to do this, it examines four case studies and presents several core ethical frameworks, with the goal of helping teams respond more effectively to elder mistreatment.

Abstract

Clinicians in the emergency department and hospital who treat patients experiencing elder mistreatment (EM) can expect to encounter challenging ethical dilemmas. Collaboration with ethics and EM consultation services offers teams an important opportunity to improve patient-centered outcomes and address value-based concerns when treating these patients. This article describes the role of a hospital clinical ethics consultation service and best practices for collaboration between ethics and EM consultation services. Illuminated via four case studies, the article presents several core ethical frameworks, including allowing patients the dignity of risk, considerations around a harm reduced discharge, involving abusers in surrogate decision making, and providers’ experience of moral distress when dealing with patients experiencing EM. Increasing collaboration with ethics and elder mistreatment services can help teams more effectively respond to EM. (Published Abstract Provided)

Date Published: August 1, 2024