Competency – Protecting rights, for good and bad

As health care providers for older adults we have a responsibility to protect them. This sometimes means protecting their rights to make 'bad' decisions while at other times protecting them against their making bad decisions. This may seem like a conflict but there is a line between these two worlds. Competent individuals have the right to make their own decisions that we might consider bad; for health care providers this means protecting that right. But for incompetent older adults this means protecting them against themselves.
Source: Geriatric Nursing - Category: Nursing Authors: Tags: Assisted Living Column Source Type: research