Rapporto ISS COVID-19 n. 6/2021 English version - Residential health care for the dependent elderly: bioethical and biojuridical issues. Version of March 10, 2021

Istituto Superiore di Sanità
Residential health care for the dependent elderly: bioethical and biojuridical issues. Version of March 10, 2021.
ISS Bioethics COVID-19 Working Group
2021, iii, 36 p. Rapporti ISS COVID-19 n. 6/2021 (in Italian)

The devastating events documented during the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic have resulted in a renewed focus on the issue of care of the elderly in need of long-term care. The health promotion and protection system of the aging population is a relevant issue for Italy and involves, at different levels, health authorities and institutions, professionals and society as a whole. This document, produced with the collaboration of the National Guarantor of the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty, proposes an ethical-legal reflection on the protection of residents in social-health structures, especially in emergency conditions. Any form of institutionalization, because of the total nature of care, may jeopardize the safeguarding of essential goods and the respect for the fundamental rights of the persons being cared for.