17/04/2025 12:19 pm
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What indemnities can be put in place from a legal perspective if a resident refuses nursing/medical treatment? In my understanding we have a legal obligation ito the Older Person’s Act to prevent self harm, however if a resident refuses treatment it could be considered self harm.
Rob 17/04/2025 4:37 pm
@rstroebel I am not an attorney and I hope someone else will contribute here, but I think that the best approach may be to:
a) Ensure that you have formal records of refusal of service and interactions with the family and Multidisciplinary Team.
b) Work through a social worker to try to resolve the matter and if necessary notify Social Development of the situation
c) Have the resident sign an indemnity form or refuse to sign an indemnity form.
While these actions are in part an attempt to mitigate the risk for yourselves, we must at some point concede that the person is an adult and has a right to refuse service if they are still competent to make decisions for themselves.
In the case of clients living with a dementia, we have engaged with a social worker immediately to put the necessary legal structures in place to protect the client (e.g. a Curator bonis for financial matters or a Curator personae for personal/welfare matters).
Rika Rodd 21/04/2025 7:55 am
https://www.saflii.org/za/journals/DEJURE/2011/3.html
https://www.hpcsa-blogs.co.za/guidelines-for-the-withholding-and-withdrawing-of-treatment/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CRespect%20for%20autonomy%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%93%20asserts,incompetent%20to%20make%20such%20decisions.
1) Ensure that you document the recommendation and refusal.
2) Ask for legal advise or a legal document for the resident/family to sign
3) Put an indemnity in place.
4) Ensure continuous recording
Rob 21/04/2025 12:21 pm
Thanks for the links Rika. Interesting reading. I may have slightly misunderstood the original question from Rayne, and I don't think that it has been answered yet - I don't have a written indemnity form of this nature in my possession, but I do think it is worth drafting one for general use that has been reviewed by an attorney.