Dementia: ethical issues - Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Dementia: ethical issues - Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Dementia: ethical issues - Nuffield Council on Bioethics
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12<br />
NUFFIELD COUNCIL<br />
ON BIOETHICS<br />
Dilemmas in care<br />
Ethical dilemmas arise <strong>on</strong> a daily basis<br />
for those providing care for people with<br />
dementia. The way in which these dilemmas<br />
are approached will have significant impact<br />
<strong>on</strong> the lives of people with dementia and<br />
their carers. This is why support in dealing<br />
with <str<strong>on</strong>g>ethical</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>issues</str<strong>on</strong>g> is crucial. We hope that<br />
the <str<strong>on</strong>g>ethical</str<strong>on</strong>g> framework presented <strong>on</strong> pages<br />
2–3 of this guide will help in approaching<br />
these dilemmas. We discuss several specific<br />
dilemmas below.<br />
Assistive technologies<br />
New technologies have the potential to make a big difference to the<br />
lives of people with dementia and their carers. For example, ‘smart’<br />
houses, with taps or cookers that turn off automatically, may make it<br />
possible for people to live in their homes for l<strong>on</strong>ger. Tracking devices<br />
may make it safer for people to go out <strong>on</strong> their own. However, some<br />
people are c<strong>on</strong>cerned that this kind of m<strong>on</strong>itoring intrudes too much<br />
<strong>on</strong> people’s privacy.<br />
We c<strong>on</strong>clude…<br />
Where a pers<strong>on</strong> with dementia is not able to decide for themselves<br />
whether to make use of a particular technology, the relative strength<br />
of a number of factors should be c<strong>on</strong>sidered <strong>on</strong> a case-by-case basis,<br />
including:<br />
• the pers<strong>on</strong>’s own views and c<strong>on</strong>cerns, for example about privacy;<br />
• the actual benefit that is likely to be achieved;<br />
• the extent to which carers’ interests may be affected; and<br />
• the dangers of loss of human c<strong>on</strong>tact [para 6.12].