Encountering a meit(ah) in the event of possible neglect/abuse

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Rachel Braun

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Jan 13, 2016, 9:07:20 PM1/13/16
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Good evening, all.  I was in a situation last week where the meitah had been very ill and in nursing care for many months.  Members of our tahara team were distraught at the state of bedsores in her diaper area, and struggled to complete the tahara and dress her in tachrichim the best we could.

After the event, I worried about the quality of care she had received, and whether I, as a metaheret, had any responsibilities, legal or at least moral, to pursue questions of the quality of care.

First, I am relieved to report that after a long discussion with the funeral home, I learned that our meitah was not, indeed, subject to neglectful care.  An experienced and patient funeral home professional was kind enough to spend time on the phone with me, and explained that in the presence of many immune-compromising conditions (she checked the meitah’s medical report and death certificate) and long-term immobility, the skin conditions we observed in the tahara room were, alas, within expectations.

The sadness with seeing someone with so many physical woes is an issue I guess many of us experience.  Beyond that, I began to wonder about our responsibilities when there is identifiable neglect or even abuse.  I searched the net and learned that states have mandated reporting for elder abuse for many professions, and undertakers (not volunteers, like us!) are among those responsible.

For a tahara team, the issues include
confidentiality and privacy concerns
authority, as most of us are not trained medically to detect abuse 
responsibility, as we are not mandated reporters, so it’s not clear what situations demand a response
and
halakhic concerns, as raising these concerns in the course of a tahara risks nonhalakhic paths, such as photographs or delay of burial

I wonder whether anyone in this google-groups has thought about these concerns, or has been in a challenging situation where those issues arose, or know of any pertinent written materials.

Thanks,
Rachel


Rachel Braun
Silver Spring, MD

https://www.TourofTorah.wordpress.com
www.zazzle.com/ArgamonEmbroidery

sandra Ottenberg

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Jan 14, 2016, 4:56:19 AM1/14/16
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Rachel,

Your question is a very good one.  A year ago our group had a problem.  The meitah died during surgery than had a post.  When we received her she was full of blood and had tubes and lines all over.  They even did not sew her up after the post.  It was horrible.  We did the best we could to make her comfortable.  The next day one of the team wrote a letter to the hospital administrator informing him that their patient was not treated with dignity etc.  The  hospital administrator  wrote back to us and apologized and promised this will not happen again to anyone.

 

Sandy Ottenberg

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Tzippy

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Jan 14, 2016, 12:24:54 PM1/14/16
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These issues are so tough.  Not only is there a question about how the met was treated before her death, and as she was dying, in the nursing facility, but the question is raised as to whether or not we should, or must, take action of some kind to prevent neglectful and/or abusive treatment of others who have not yet died.  
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