Our blogger Art Caplan has a fascinating new piece in The Lancet today about an elderly patient who refused to be turned in his hospital bed and died from the ensuing bed sores/infection. Art’s conclusions emphasize both patient autonomy and preserving the ability of health care professionals to provide care in humane and safe conditions. In the meantime, he asks a number of important questions about this patient’s decision:
Could Harold or any other patient deny care considered basic and standard? If he asked not to be turned could he also demand that the heat be turned off in his room? Could he refuse to let anyone touch him at all? Could a patient demand no elevation of his bed? No taking of vital signs? And without a clear policy about a request not to turn, were the hospital staff exposing themselves to a good deal of bureaucratic and regulatory grief when Harold died?
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Harold seems to have been well within his legal rights to refuse turning. But would a hospital or a nursing home be within their rights to refuse him admission if what he wants is well outside the standard of care? Should all health-care institutions have a policy on turning? Although such requests are rare, the turmoil they cause is enormous. Should “not turning” be offered as an option in circumstances akin to those governing the ending of dialysis, ventilator support, resuscitation, and chemotherapy? Should turning be a topic of discussion as part of writing an advanced directive? If so, what support ought to be given to health-care providers involved in a case where a competent patient insists on not being turned?
What do you think?