08/23/2020 - 12:23
- Clarín.com
- Society
The Network of Care, Rights and Decisions at the end of life, which depends on the Conicet, seeks to promote a protocol that allows relatives to say goodbye to terminally ill patients due to coronavirus, as announced by one of its members in the report of the Ministry of Health of the nation.
"From the Internet what we want is to develop protocols so that humanized accompaniment is possible and goodbyes and funeral rituals have a place," said Graciela Jacob, a palliative doctor.
Jacob explained that "for each person who dies, the impact is calculated on six more people between their family and their emotional environment." In this way, he added: "If you multiply the numbers we have daily by six, we will know that we have a public health problem."
Therefore, the doctor assured that a protocol is being worked on that allows the farewells of family members in the context of health measures due to coronavirus.
Graciela Jacob, coordinator of the Network of Care, Rights and Decisions at the end of life CONICET, together with Carla Vizzotti and Alejandro Costa.
"Patients have the rights to make decisions, to be accompanied and to express their will, and in this pandemic there is a certain condition between their rights and what the system has to offer based on isolation. For this reason, we understand that we have to develop protocols that they can take care of everyone, health personnel, patients, and that they can take care of family members who can approach to say goodbye, "said Jacob, a member of the Network that depends on Conicet.
Referring to the deaths that occurred in the context of isolation, Jacob assured: "These days we have heard very heartbreaking stories, stories in which someone could not say goodbye, stories where elderly mothers were isolated , where relatives could not say goodbye to their loved ones and sometimes they could not even see the body of their deceased relative. These deaths in isolation, in solitude, almost disappeared from the family environment, are deaths that occur with great suffering for the family and are an impact on society. "
The Network of Care, Rights and Decisions at the end of life was created at the end of July "to provide institutional responses to problems related to the dying process" in the context of the pandemic, and is made up of experts from different dimensions related to "rights and decisions at the end of life to the end", according to information from Conicet.
Solange died unable to say goodbye to her father. Photo: TV Capture
The Network brings together specialists in law, medicine, history, sociology, anthropology and philosophy, among other disciplines.
Jacob stated that "care in the process of dying is a central issue in the humanization of medicine. Death is inherent in life, but the process of dying is a matter that concerns us as a society and that tends, if it is humanized , to improve our quality as people throughout society. "