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34 Med. & L. 603 (2015)
Health Law and Elderly Persons

handle is hein.journals/mlv34 and id is 633 raw text is: 

Med  Law  (2015) 34:603-626                                 Medicine
                                                              and Law
                                                         World Association
                                                         for Medical  Law
Health Law
HEALTH LAW AND ELDERLY PERSONS



Guilherme  de Oliveira*

        Abstract: The article stresses that the elderly probably do not need
        sophisticated health care because they probably suffer from known
        pathologies and are chronically ill. The elderly probably do need
        improvements in:

        1. Law   focused on respect for patients, including: Protection and
           promotion  of personal autonomy and informed consent practice;
           adequate  information; slowness  and  time to understand  and
           decide. They  also need effective legal representation and quick
           schemes  for damage compensation. Other needs include: ageing
           in place; maintaining links with places, family and peers.

        2. Law  focused  on access and on appropriate medical techniques,
           including: access; quality of care; trained professionals; long-
           term care instead of acute care; friendly modes of administration
           of medicines; friendly medical devices; information technology;
           medical research; and clinical trials.

        3. Law  focused on the sustainability of health care systems, including:
           social and technical innovation; promoting one's health through
           healthy lifestyles; and discussing the rationing of care.

        Keywords:  Health Law;  Elderly Persons; Respect; Access; Medical
        Techniques; Long-Term   Care;  Information  Technology;  Clinical
        Trials; Healthy Lifestyles; Rationing of Care.

A - INTRODUCTION

Perhaps many  of you will know the short joke' I am about to tell, and which
is used in gerontology training sessions. I will start by telling just the first


*   Biomedical Law Center, Faculty of Law, University of Coimbra, Portugal. Email:
    guilhermedeoliveira@me.com
1   Accessible at http://wwwjensenestatelaw.com/articles/elder-law/62-the-bias-of-medical-
    care-providers-towards-aging


603

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