This paper explores the syndrome of dementia and the way in which it affects a persons capacity to make a medical decision. The symptoms of dementia exist along a continuum, meaning that a patient will begin with a mild form of dementia and then progress to a more severe form of this syndrome. This paper argues that although demented patients generally do not have the capacity to make medical decisions, some demented patients, because of the continuum nature of the syndrome, can participate in the planning of their care and, in some cases, participate in the informed consent process. It maintains that the principles of respect for autonomy and dignity, beneficence, and justice provide ethical reasons for involving demented patients in the care when they are capable to do so. Moreover, this paper contends that ageism, sexism, and hypercognitivism are biases that likely affect the way in which physicians view their demented patients, and consequently, the intersectionality of these three biases may play a role in a physicians disregard for an elderly demented patients involvement in the planning of their care. Finally, the way in which physicians interpret the idea of involvement provides further reasons to explain why physicians sometimes exclude demented patients in participating in decisionmaking. This paper concludes by providing some suggestions for positively involving demented patients in care planning.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-07312007-165037 |
| Date | 19 September 2007 |
| Creators | Chamberlain, Colby L |
| Contributors | Lisa S. Parker, PhD, David Barnard, PhD, Elizabeth Chaitin, DHCE |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-07312007-165037/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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