WWTMHJW@heitue5.bitnet (01/09/89)
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Dear list reader,
Since technological reports on care for the elderly are rather rare, I thought
that the item quoted below from MBEC News of November 1988 might be worth while
disseminating over a number of lists. In The Netherlands, Geriatric Health
Care is currently a high priority item with the Netherlands Organization for
Scientific Research.
Since I am not a subcriber to most of the lists mentioned above, I'd appreciate
to receive any commments by direct email.
Sincerely -- dr ir Herman J. Woltring
EARN/BITNET/NETNORTH: wwtmhjw@heitue5.bitnet
ARPA/Internet: na.woltring@na-net.stanford.edu
Biomedical and Health Technology Software Engineering Department
Eindhoven University of Technology Philips Medical Systems
The Netherlands
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* * * MBEC News item on Elderly and Life Saving in USA * * *
Life-saving and the elderly American
Life-sustaining treatments, their effects on the patient and family, and the
medical, ethical and legal considerations involving the use or non-use of such
treatments has been analysed in 'Final report: life-sustaining technologies and
the elderly' (PB87-222527), from the US Government's National Technical Infor-
mation Service.
In addition to the final report are the working papers which deal with five
particular life-sustaining technologies and their use with elderly people, al-
though much of the information is applicable to people of all ages: 'Volume 1
Working papers: The technologies, Part 1' (PB88-150164); 'Volume 2 Working pa-
pers: The technologies, Part 2' (PB88-150156); 'Volume 3 Working papers: Legal
and ethical issues, manpower and training, and classification systems for deci-
sion making' (PB88-106214); 'Volume 4 Working papers: Use of life-sustaining
technologies in other countries' (PB87-234571) and finally 'Philoaophical, le-
gal, and social aspects of surrogate decisionmaking for elderly individuals'
(PB87-34134).
This report and the working papers were prepared for the Senate Special
Committee on Aging, which requested a 'thorough review of the ethical dilemma's
concerning life-and-death decisions that are faced by health-care practitioners,
elderly patients themselves, and concerned family members', issues covered in-
clude 'financial access' to life-sustaining technologies and the 'right to
choose'.
[From Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing News, No. 6, November 1988,
p. N6 "Publications"]