Unsafe Care Situations

Posted by Greg Schneider on November 6, 2011 at 11:38am

Volunteers and staff who provide care to those under hospice care can witness situations that can make them feel helpless due to the complexity of the caregiving situation.

I had a personal experience with a hospice patient whose caregiver was the spouse.  The spouse had cared for her husband for many years and now the disease and her husband's life was coming to an end.

In today's economy and the attitude that currently seems to surround healthcare that people should not have affordable healthcare can lead to decisions that are unconsciously driven by the cost of the care.

A spouse who is a caregiver may see their life savings dwindling rapidly and soon their life partner will be gone and so will most of the money they accumulated during their lifetime. This is very disconcerting to the surviving spouse.

This is what appeared to be the situtation I was witnessing.  The result was that I began to see a pattern of care that was adversely affecting the patient.  I struggled with this situation and tried to be objective about what I saw.

I frequently reported what I saw to the hospice clinical staff and after a few months the patient was transferred to 24 hour care in a facility outside of his home.  This left his wife home alone and him alone in a completely unfamiliar environment.  Both were very unhappy about this change, which was necessary to ensure the safety of the patient. This was painful to witness but in the end all were happier for this change.

I hope that others will share their experiences in the domain of ethics through this new group.

Greg Schneider
Founder & President, HVA

 

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