I'm pleased to share our newly published Letter to the Editor published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association.
A short excerpt states, "Media reports documented that LTC residents and their family members were engaged in decision making about transfer to hospital even ahead of COVID-19 being present in their home. Although the impact of this anticipatory decision making might never be known, the fact that it occurred highlights a serious ethical question: should an LTC resident (or their substitute decision maker) be asked to make decisions about treatment and transfer before those decisions are actually relevant to that resident's particular situation? We strongly believe that they should not. In fact, we feel that ensuring treatment proposals are both individual and time-specific can ensure that transfers to hospital are wanted and beneficial: before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic."
The link above will be open until January 16, 2021. The work referred to in the letter has grown out of the Prevention of Error-Based Transfers (PoET) Southwest Spread Project which we have been working on with Dr. Henry Siu and Pam Forsyth from McMaster, and discusses a specific tool that we have been recommending to homes.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out!