Care home publishes its draft End-Of-Life policy
LONDON: A care home has decided to publish its newly crafted draft End-Of-Life policy.
Estes Park Health has released a draft policy on the Colorado End-Of-Life Act for community members to read and give feedback on. The draft policy will be considered at the Estes Park Health board of directors meeting on Jan. 21 at 4 p.m. Here are the highlights.
- Estes Park Health neither encourages nor discourages participation in the Act. Only those providers who are willing and desire to participate should do so. Any participation or refusal to participate in the Act by Estes Park Health physicians, employees, or patients is entirely voluntary, and Estes Park Health will not penalize an individual for participating in, or refusing to participate in the Act. An Estes Park Health physician, staff, or employee that elects not to engage in activities authorized by the Act is not required to take any action in support of a patient’s request for a prescription for an aid-in-dying medication, including but not limited to, referral to another provider who participates in such activities.
- Estes Park Health permits the ingestion or self-administration of an aid-in-dying medication within areas of service delivery that are considered a patient’s home or residence. This applies to care delivered by Home Health and Hospice in the patient’s home and applies to long-term care delivered in the Estes Park Health Living Center.
- Estes Park Health does not permit the ingestion or self-administration of an aid-indying medication in any areas that are not considered a patient’s home or residence. With the exception of the Estes Park Health Living Center, Estes Park Health does not permit ingestion or self-administration of an aid-in-dying medication within any Estes Park Health premises including the Acute Care Hospital (Emergency Department, Inpatient Hospital).
- If an Estes Park Health patient in the Acute Care Hospital wishes to ingest or selfadminister an aid-in-dying medication, Estes Park Health will cooperate with the patient in transfer to the Estes Park Health Living Center or another facility of the patient’s choice. The transfer will promote continuity of care. Upon request, Estes Park Health will transfer a copy of the patient’s medical record to the new health care provider/facility.
The board of directors would like to hear from the community about the draft policy, and welcome them contacting Lisa taylor at (970) 577-4390 with questions, send a letter to the board or email comments to [email protected].
You can find the full policy here: https://eph.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Colorado-End-of-Life-Options-Act-1-9-2019.pdf
