Competence and Informed Consent
Your patient today is an 85-year-old African-American, widowed woman that is called Mrs. M. She is admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of heart failure. Her son and daughter tell you that they would like to arrange for her to be discharged today to a Nursing Home because they feel like she does not know how to take her medications correctly. As you check her chart you notice that she has been admitted every 4-8 weeks for various diagnoses and you see where there are numerous documented occasions where she has been non-compliant with her medications.
Mrs. M tells you that she feels like her son and daughter would like her “put away in one of those homes” as she is still living at her home alone. The physicians would like to keep her in the hospital to establish whether she is able to take care of herself at home. They also want to establish whether she should still be driving herself around town. You assess Mrs. M and she seems AAOx3. The children object to the testing and will not sign the consents for any further procedures.
As Mrs. M’s nurse do you feel like you should be her advocate and follow her wishes and ignore her children?
What kinds of information would Mrs. M need to understand if she were to sign an informed consent? (What information would need to be given to her if the consent were truly informed?)
How could it be established if Mrs. M is able to sign her own consents for tests?
If Mrs. M were to be sent to a Nursing Home what Federal laws would protect her rights as a resident?
APA 7th edition 1 page essay
