Public Health: End of Life (Research Paper Sample)

Public Health: End of Life Name Institution Affiliation Public Health: End of Life Risk assessment involves looking into the potential harms that are likely to arise in an environment unexpectedly. The End of Life service program requires extreme risk assessment measures considering the group of people involved, which include the elderly that have less time to live according to clinical assessment. The risk assessment procedure must ensure the safe working procedures for the health system and that all factors to do with the operation of the systems in place are working properly. The program that involves the identification of patients at a risk of losing their life requires the proper plans and communication with patients in the determination of the urgent cases. The end of life program requires communication and social involvement with the caregivers in the identification of the critical cases that need attention. Among the key elements in offering the end of life, services include the social care, spiritual care, and support for the carer and right to information for the patients and carer. The ethics and legal factors require the patients to be in knowledge of their status and conditions. The service career should ensure that the patients understand their conditions unless stated otherwise through an agreement (Barnes, Gardiner, Gott, et..al,2012). The family members should not deny the patients the rights to knowledge of their conditions. The professional ethics and legal advice to the patients receiving the end of life services include the appointment of an attorney just in case the health status becomes unbearable. The attorney makes decisions based on the social care and welfare for the client. In the event of a patient who feels unable to make decisions for the social services, at the end of life program the appointment of a trusted attorney provides a better chance to enjoy the last days of their life in the intended manner of comfort and reduced bargain for the family members (Chan, & Webster, 2013). Ethically, the attorney is required to take into consideration the patient’s wishes as requested through a contract. The conflict between the family members and the appointed attorneys regarding the end of life services are among the raising risk issues in the program. According to Rucker and Browning (2015), the family members should ensure caution when approaching the matter to avoid contradiction of the patient’s decision. The ethnic and culture differences in the case of giving the appropriate care are out of consideration in this case. Family members are expected to respect the decision by the patient since the decision is made at a critical moment to allow the patient enjoy their last minute (Rucker & Browning, 2015). It should be considered that the decision to have an attorney is made by the patients when they are of sound mind. Research has shown the influence of family member decisions in altering the outcomes of the end of life decisions especially in the sharing of information concerning the health condition. The ethics and legal bounds require the appointed attorney to ensure they observe the patients decisions that on the other hand contradicts with the family members wishes. The solution to such cases requires close dialogue with both parties with the involvement of health professions in the programs. The advanced planning by the health organizations at the end of life program is expected to deliver proper clinical and social services to the patients with the involvement of all parties especially when making decisions (Brinkman, Rietjens, & Heide, 2014). The parties are supposed to be in consensus for every action according to the patient preferences that are made at quite an early stage. Clinical offi...