https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/26481 2026-04-05T00:26:32Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/26805 Title: The elderly patient and quality of life judgements Abstract: How does one define quality of life in the elderly age group? Is it their health status; their functional status; whether they are still living in their own homes; their financial means, whether their favourite football team is winning? Since I have been asked to discuss patients, I'll stick to health. 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/26802 Title: The rights of the dying patient Abstract: At no time in our history have we been so reluctant to face death and discuss it. Death, which is such an intrinsic part of life, has become a taboo for today's culture. In actual fact, it is not death itself that people dread, but the manner, time and even place of death. As a result of this fear to talk about death, today's culture is facing the danger of leaving the dying to approach their end unsupported not only by their relatives, but even by health carers. In order to provide the best possible care and treatment for dying patients, nurses, doctors and other health care professionals who come in direct contact with terminally-ill patients need to be trained in those attitudes and dispositions which enable them to approach the dying patient with skills and confidence with which they treat other patients. Training in palliative care, or care of the dying, needs to feature more prominently in the curriculum of all health care professionals. 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/26794 Title: The advance directive Abstract: Advance directives are an indispensable and essential part of medical practice today. They give the power to a patient to make an informed choice, within the law of the country, about him or her when mentally incapacitated, dying or in palliative care. A patient may designate a trusted person or family doctor to be his or her health care representative and take decisions on his or her behalf. In this case the advance directive is a written statement addressing who this 'power of attorney for health care' is. The power of attorney, that is, the person acting on the patient's behalf, obviates the problem that living wills are not legally binding and therefore may be challenged by relatives and the medical team. The word of the person designated by the patient to act on his or her behalf is almost as binding as the word of the patient. 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/26791 Title: Witholding and withdrawing treatments : ethics at the bedside Abstract: in the last few decades it has become clear that treatment should not be prolonged indefinitely, when it has ceased to provide a benefit for the patient. Mechanical respirators, artificial hearts, dialysis machines, and resuscitation techniques can prolong the act of dying and at great financial, social, and emotional costs to individuals and society. Now the central ethical question is: When is it morally permissible or even mandatory to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatments? How is Hippocrates' moral dictum to be implemented amid the technical complexities of contemporary medicine? 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z