You are working in a nursing home that supports a restraint-free environment. In the past month, one of the residents has slipped once from her wheelchair and once off the edge of her bed; she fell onto the ?oor both times. Although the resident was not injured in either of these incidents, the resident’s daughter is concerned that her mother has the potential to seriously hurt herself during a fall and requests that her mother be restrained while in bed and in her wheelchair. The resident has not expressed any preference but says she’ll do whatever her daughter wants. You explain the rationale for not using restraints, but the daughter is insistent that her mother be restrained. “You know my mother has the tendency to slip to the ?oor,” the daughter says, “so if you don’t tie her in the chair and keep her rails up when she is in bed and she falls, I’ll have my lawyers here before you can say boo!”
1. How do you decide if the resident’s freedom to be unrestrained is worth the risk of her injuring herself during a fall?
2. What dilemmas could you present for the resident if you ask her for her preference without consideration of the daughter’s desires?