“Elderly people, including those with a loss of autonomy or disability, enjoy the same rights and freedoms as the general population” reminds the Defender of Rights Claire Hédon, in a press release. However, the latter, which regularly receives complaints relating to restrictions on the rights and freedoms of people accommodated in nursing homes, has been even more challenged on this subject since the start of the health crisis linked to the pandemic.
France is one of the European countries with the highest proportion of elderly people in nursing homes (8.8% of people aged 75 and over). Nearly 7,600 EHPADs thus accommodate more than 600,000 elderly people with a loss of autonomy or with disabilities, most of whom are people in a situation of vulnerability, disability or loss of autonomy. As the Defender of Rights points out in a report that is about to be published, all people who are welcomed in nursing homes have “the right to respect for their dignity and to protection against any form of abuse. This principle implies not reducing the human being to his body by treating him as an object and that the human person is not instrumentalized or used simply as a means, but always as an end.
Despite vaccination, visits remain prohibited in places
However, numerous situations brought to the attention of the Defender of Rights show that the reality does not always comply with this principle. And that this principle has been flouted even more during the pandemic. The vulnerability of the elderly to covid-19 has indeed led the directors of establishments to adopt rigorous restrictive measures (prohibition of exit, impossibility to see the families, suppression of the visits in the rooms…) derogating from the common law, outside any normative framework.
“At the start of the health crisis in particular, we were seized by families who were unable to see the body of the deceased. Elderly people died alone without any accompaniment from their loved one.” says Claire Hedon dyears an interview with Le Figaro. She adds: “Even today, despite vaccination, difficulties persist. The latest complaints indicate that visits remain prohibited in places, that some elderly people are placed in solitary confinement after a family outing. We are particularly concerned about see that these barriers to freedom continue”
What is a Defender of Rights? It is an independent administrative authority charged by the Constitution with ensuring respect for rights and freedoms.
Source : The fundamental rights of people accommodated in nursing homesDefender of Rights, May 2021
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