The Human Rights Commission has published a report, This is Not My Home, which considers the legal and ethical issues around residential care for older people when the care is provided without the person's consent.
The report contains a collection of 10 essays by lawyers, doctors, academics and District Court Judge Philip Recordon.
The essays were originally prepared for a series of seminars and workshops on the legal safeguards and ethical issues around the care of elderly and psycho-geriatric patients in New Zealand. Each paper represents the view of its individual author, and do not necessarily represent the view of the Human Rights Commission or other contributors.
The contents are:
- Foreword (Paula Tesoriero, Disability Rights Commissioner).
- This is not my home (Judge Philip Recordon).
- ‘This is not my home’ – An audit of legal authorities in Aged Residential Care (Dr Mark Fisher).
- Using and working with the PPPR Act – the challenges (Andrew Finnie).
- The role of Right 7(4) of the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights (Cordelia Thomas).
- Plugging the gaps – Strengthening the rights of mentally incapacitated adults pending substantive law reform (Iris Reuvecamp).
- Aged residential care without consent – A human rights perspective (Michael J V White).
- International developments on deprivation of liberty (Professor Kate Diesfeld).
- Filling the gap – Liberty safeguards for people with impaired capacity (Alison Douglass).
- The Welfare Guardianship Trust as a strategy to support people without capacity (Dr Ben Gray).
- Concluding thoughts (Dr Mark Fisher and Janet Anderson-Bidois).