Background People with intellectual disabilities are over-represented in the criminal justice system. The United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) enshrines a right to equal access to justice for persons with disabilities (Article 13, UNCRPD). Accessible information is a key aspect of exercising this right.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Law Psychiatry
November 2021
Background: Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) is a complex multisystem genetic disorder associated with several challenges for people with PWS themselves, and for their families and care givers. Support around access to food is a particular issue due to impaired satiety and, because of this, people with PWS eat excessive amounts of food (hyperphagia). Together with other aspects of the PWS phenotype including, in many cases, a reduced sensitivity to pain, hyperphagia results in life-threatening obesity and life-shortening complications for some people with PWS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Doctors play a key role in individuals' lives undergoing a holistic integration into local communities. To maintain public trust, it is essential that professional values are upheld by both doctors and medical students. We aimed to ensure that students appreciated these professional obligations during the 3-year science-based, preclinical course with limited patient contact.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: People with intellectual disabilities (PWID) are over-represented in criminal justice systems globally. This over-representation reveals itself at once in the demographic make-up of prison populations, as well as those detained in police settings as suspects of crime. While it is well-established in international literature that individuals who find themselves in the latter scenario face particular challenges in negotiating the forensic formalities routinely followed by the police at the pre-trial stage of criminal proceedings on account of their impairments, the specific difficulties experienced by PWID as suspects within Ireland's criminal justice system has yet to be explained, or indeed, understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis article explores and outlines four possible pathways for law reform in the area of compulsory mental health admission and treatment in Hong Kong: the (i) abolition, (ii) risk of harm, (iii) mental capacity and (iv) consensus pathways. The discussion of each pathway takes into account local challenges in implementation, as well as Hong Kong's international commitments for the protection of rights. In outlining these pathways for reform, the authors intend to also provide a blueprint for regulatory change in other jurisdictions that are in the process of reforming their mental health laws.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Individuals with an intellectual disability (ID) form a significant minority in the Irish prison population and worldwide prison populations. There is growing recognition that specialist services for such individuals are in need of development. The purpose of this paper is to propose a care pathway for the management of individuals with an ID who present in prison, based on expert elicitation and consensus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose While individuals with an intellectual disability form a significant minority in the worldwide prison population, their healthcare needs require specialist attention. In Ireland, services for prisoners with intellectual disabilities need development. However, there is little substantive data estimating the prevalence of intellectual disabilities within the Irish prison system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Dysphagia and other eating and drinking difficulties are common in progressive neurological diseases. Mealtimes can become a major source of difficulty and anxiety for patients and their families. Decisions about eating, drinking and care can become challenging as disease progresses, and the person in question loses the capacity to participate in decisions about their own care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealthc Manage Forum
July 2017
En qualité de professionnels de la santé, nous sommes déterminés à assurer l'exploitation efficiente et efficace de nos établissements. Les outils dont nous disposons sont les structures bureaucratiques, les règles, les règlements, les politiques et, bien sûr, les mesures. Il n'y a rien de foncièrement pernicieux à avoir des établissements efficients, efficaces et mesurés, mais nous soutenons que l'humanité et l'authenticité manquent cruellement dans cet environnement, au prix d'un travail significatif.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs healthcare professionals we are committed to the efficient and effective operation of our institutions. Bureaucratic structures, rules, regulations, policies, and of course, measurements, are the tools-at-hand. While there is nothing inherently pernicious about efficient, effective, and measured institutions, we argue what is critically missing in this environment is humanity and authenticity at the cost of meaningful work.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is continuing public debate about treatment preferences at the end of life, and the acceptability and legal status of treatments that sustain or end life. However, most surveys use binary yes/no measures, and little is known about preferences in neurological disease when decision-making capacity is lost, as most studies focus on cancer. This study investigates changes in public preferences for care towards the end of life, with a focus on measures to sustain or end life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of detention for psychiatric treatment is widespread and sometimes necessary. International human rights law requires a legal framework to safeguard the rights to liberty and personal integrity by preventing arbitrary detention. However, research suggests that extra-legal factors may influence decisions to detain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResearch ethics review is an important process, designed to protect participants in medical research. However, it is increasingly criticised for failing to meet its aims. Here, two researchers reflect on their experiences of applying for ethical approval of observational research in clinical settings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiscussion of real cases encountered by medical students has been advocated as a component of medical ethics education. Suggested benefits include: a focus on the actual problems that medical students confront; active learner involvement; and facilitation of an exploration of the meaning of their own values in relation to professional behaviour. However, the approach may also carry risks: students may focus too narrowly on particular clinical topics or show a preference for discussing legal problems that may appear to have clearer solutions.
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