Balancing safety with autonomy

摘要

If a 90 year old is climbing ladders, should your first instinct be to congratulate her or to warn her of the dangers? I discussed this recently with a friend, whose elderly patient kept chickens that took to roosting in the trees. On balance, we agreed that the benefit of tending her allotment and chickens probably outweighed the risks of ladder climbing, even though her balance wasn't what it used to be. Nearly five years after the publication of Atul Gawande's Being Mortal, with its urgent call to reconsider how our society treats older people, we still tend to err on the side of safety rather than autonomy.