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Rural Bioethical Issues of the Elderly: How Do They Differ From Urban Ones?
Author(s) -
Glover Jacqueline J.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
the journal of rural health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.439
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1748-0361
pISSN - 0890-765X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1748-0361.2001.tb00283.x
Subject(s) - bioethics , scope (computer science) , confidentiality , economic justice , dimension (graph theory) , rural area , sociology , health care , engineering ethics , medicine , psychology , political science , law , mathematics , computer science , pure mathematics , programming language , engineering
Typical ethical issues in health care for the elderly include decision making for elderly patients with and without capacity, advance directives, the use of life‐sustaining technologies, and questions of access to services and justice. Obviously the same issues are relevant for elderly patients in rural settings. But the unique features of rural living add another dimension to ethical discourse and the care of patients, namely the primary importance of relationships. Rural bioethics is based on an ethic of familiarity, which alters our attention to such issues as confidentiality, multiple relationships, scope of practice, and access issues. The following article briefly outlines the unique features of rural bioethics and provides a case analysis.