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At what age do adults stop being adults? | British Geriatrics Society
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rel="nofollow">Share by Email</a></li> <li class="calendar"> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div></div> </div> </aside> <section id="content"> <div class="content-main"> <article id="node-5426" class="node node-blog node-content" about="/blog/at-what-age-do-adults-stop-being-adults" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document"> <div class="blog-header node-header"> <h1><div class="card-full-title"> At what age do adults stop being adults? </div> </h1> <span property="dc:title" content="At what age do adults stop being adults?" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span><span property="sioc:num_replies" content="2" datatype="xsd:integer" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span> <div class="node-header-details"> <div class="node-header-dates card-date-alt"> <div class="card-date"> <span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2020-01-07T00:00:00+00:00">07 January 2020</span> </div> </div> <div class="card-topics-wrapper"><a href="/taxonomy/term/2952">Patient/Family Involvement</a>, <a href="/taxonomy/term/866">Nursing</a></div> </div> </div> <div class="card-body"> </div> <div class="view view-sections view-id-sections view-display-id-main view-dom-id-874ba6595ced4fbc92e6fb0c42d35c91"> <div class="view-content view-content-main"> <div class="views-row views-row-1 views-row-odd views-row-first views-row-last section-row palette-default img-right "> <div class="section-inner"> <div class="card-original"> <picture > <!--[if IE 9]><video style="display: none;"><![endif]--> <source srcset="https://www.bgs.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/nugget-wide/public/content/paragraphs/text/images/2020-01-07/smartphone.jpg?itok=iVcm4tS9&timestamp=1578411337 1x" media="(min-width: 75em)" /> <source srcset="https://www.bgs.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/nugget-normal/public/content/paragraphs/text/images/2020-01-07/smartphone.jpg?itok=Ni3O3EzW&timestamp=1578411337 1x" media="(min-width: 60em)" /> <source srcset="https://www.bgs.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/nugget-narrow/public/content/paragraphs/text/images/2020-01-07/smartphone.jpg?itok=iA0cRJ5A&timestamp=1578411337 1x" media="(min-width: 45em)" /> <source srcset="https://www.bgs.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/nugget-mobile/public/content/paragraphs/text/images/2020-01-07/smartphone.jpg?itok=o5jq3Ed1&timestamp=1578411337 1x" media="(min-width: 0em)" /> <!--[if IE 9]></video><![endif]--> <img src="https://www.bgs.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/nugget-mobile/public/content/paragraphs/text/images/2020-01-07/smartphone.jpg?itok=o5jq3Ed1&timestamp=1578411337" alt="" title="" /> </picture> </div> <div class="card-body"> <p class="larger-text">Stacey Finlay is a Registered Nurse in an Acting Sister’s position in Intermediate Care, based in Northern Ireland. She tweets at <a href="https://twitter.com/staceylou_18" rel="nofollow">@staceylou_18</a></p> <p>As a nurse working with older people I feel I often have to provide justification for not automatically disclosing information about care or treatment to a patient’s next of kin. I feel I have to justify not including next of kin in decision making almost daily and utter words to the effect of “I didn’t discuss it with next of kin as Mrs X is an adult with capacity so I did not need to discuss it with next of kin" so often that I feel I am reading from a script, and it makes me think – if I worked with patients fifty years younger would the same questions be asked? Would there be the same expectation that I should not make any changes to care or have decision making discussions with patients without permission or input from their next of kin if I worked with thirty-year olds rather than eighty-year olds? I think not.</p> <p>I also do not think I am the only professional working with older people who has had this experience. I have read letters from other clinicians which describe more in-depth consultations and relationships with well intentioned family members than with the patient themselves – sometimes even to the extent of a diagnosis being disclosed only to a family member and not to the patient. The routine societal infantilization of older people is not an innocuous annoyance for professionals like me and poses a risk of harm to the patients we work with. Most professionals, particularly those working with older people, would agree that lengthy admissions are risky for our older population – it puts them at risk of contracting infection, developing delirium and deconditioning – continuing to be admitted once ready for discharge is fraught with risk. Yet, it happens.</p> <p>All too frequently I see patients who could go home, who want to go home, but their family do not agree with team recommendations or their family members wishes. They feel that their family member returning home would “not be best for them" or that they are not ready and so the team, the family and the patient become engaged in repeated discharge planning meetings and an extended period of admission. The patient inevitably falls prey to one of the risks of lengthy admission and sometimes, they never make it home.</p> <p>I have never met a family who seek to be involved or consulted about decisions related to the care of their relative with malicious intent. They have all been well intentioned but it’s a situation that I feel can hinder the provision of person-centred care. Being placed in this situation, a situation I have only ever came across in geriatrics, makes me wonder – why as people age do children, or nieces and nephews for some, adopt a paternal role in their older relatives’ lives? At what age do adults stop being adults?</p> </div> <div class="card-view-4"> <div class="view view-attachment view-id-attachment view-display-id-main view-dom-id-fbc363320da3c26305f5eb9ba9130748"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="view view-sections view-id-sections view-display-id-additional view-dom-id-584a7a881e415e225a48b0d609491a58"> </div> <div id="comments" class="comment-wrapper comment-wrapper-nid-5426"> <h2 class="title">Comments</h2> <a id="comment-2872"></a> <div class="comment comment-by-anonymous ajax-comment-wrapper comment-wrapper-2872 clearfix" about="/comment/2872#comment-2872" typeof="sioc:Post sioct:Comment"> <h3 property="dc:title" datatype=""><a href="/comment/2872#comment-2872" class="permalink" rel="bookmark">Agree entirely. I have often</a></h3> <div class="submitted"> <a href="/comment/2872#comment-2872" class="permalink" rel="bookmark">Permalink</a> <span property="dc:date dc:created" content="2020-01-07T16:27:09+00:00" datatype="xsd:dateTime" rel="sioc:has_creator">Submitted by <span class="username" xml:lang="" typeof="sioc:UserAccount" property="foaf:name" datatype="">Tilda</span> on Tue, 07/01/2020 - 16:27</span> </div> <div class="content"> <span rel="sioc:reply_of" resource="/blog/at-what-age-do-adults-stop-being-adults" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span><div class="card-comment-body"> <p>Agree entirely. I have often felt that children of older people feel they have parental rights </p> </div> </div> <ul class="links inline"><li class="comment-reply first last"><a href="/comment/reply/5426/2872" class="use-ajax-comments ajax-comments-reply ajax-comments-reply-5426-2872">reply</a></li> </ul></div> <a id="comment-2873"></a> <div class="comment comment-by-anonymous ajax-comment-wrapper comment-wrapper-2873 clearfix" about="/comment/2873#comment-2873" typeof="sioc:Post sioct:Comment"> <h3 property="dc:title" datatype=""><a href="/comment/2873#comment-2873" class="permalink" rel="bookmark">Spot on. We should protect</a></h3> <div class="submitted"> <a href="/comment/2873#comment-2873" class="permalink" rel="bookmark">Permalink</a> <span property="dc:date dc:created" content="2020-01-07T17:20:58+00:00" datatype="xsd:dateTime" rel="sioc:has_creator">Submitted by <span class="username" xml:lang="" typeof="sioc:UserAccount" property="foaf:name" datatype="">Chris Hudson</span> on Tue, 07/01/2020 - 17:20</span> </div> <div class="content"> <span rel="sioc:reply_of" resource="/blog/at-what-age-do-adults-stop-being-adults" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span><div class="card-comment-body"> <p>Spot on. We should protect the autonomy of our patients, even if it risks conflict with relatives.</p> </div> </div> <ul class="links inline"><li class="comment-reply first last"><a href="/comment/reply/5426/2873" class="use-ajax-comments ajax-comments-reply ajax-comments-reply-5426-2873">reply</a></li> </ul></div> <h2 class="title comment-form">Add new comment</h2> <form class="comment-form ajax-comments-reply-form-5426-0-0 ajax-comments-form-add" id="ajax-comments-reply-form-5426-0-0" action="/comment/reply/5426" method="post" accept-charset="UTF-8"><div><div class="form-item form-type-textfield form-item-name"> <label for="edit-name">Your name </label> <input type="text" id="edit-name" name="name" value="" size="30" maxlength="60" class="form-text" /> </div> <input type="hidden" name="form_build_id" value="form-BHv4mATXbNs2I4sNCIBFbaxNuPfeMvjr5HpZqZ5HuDg" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_id" value="comment_node_blog_form" /> <div class="field-type-text-long field-name-comment-body field-widget-text-textarea form-wrapper" id="edit-comment-body"><div id="comment-body-add-more-wrapper"><div class="text-format-wrapper"><div class="form-item form-type-textarea form-item-comment-body-und-0-value"> <label for="edit-comment-body-und-0-value">Comment <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <div class="form-textarea-wrapper resizable"><textarea class="text-full wysiwyg form-textarea required" id="edit-comment-body-und-0-value" name="comment_body[und][0][value]" cols="60" rows="5"></textarea></div> </div> <div class="filter-wrapper form-wrapper" id="edit-comment-body-und-0-format"></div></div> </div></div><fieldset class="captcha form-wrapper"><legend><span class="fieldset-legend">CAPTCHA</span></legend><div class="fieldset-wrapper"><div class="fieldset-description">This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.</div><input type="hidden" name="captcha_sid" value="8293509" /> <input type="hidden" name="captcha_token" value="c2f86ede2debc480c77f5cd29da00684" /> <input type="hidden" name="captcha_response" value="Google no captcha" /> <div class="g-recaptcha" data-sitekey="6LdxcUsUAAAAABXmfqM-hujH0UGJIQjSzRbBKU2w" data-theme="light" data-type="image"></div></div></fieldset> <div class="form-actions form-wrapper" id="edit-actions"><input type="submit" id="edit-ajax-comments-reply-form-5426-0-0" name="op" value="Save" class="form-submit" /></div></div></form> </div> </article> </div> </section> <aside id="sidebar-second" role="complementary" class="sidebar"> <div class="sidebar-second-wrapper"> <section class="block block-views side-row"> <h2 class="block-title">Related</h2> <div class="view view-related view-id-related view-display-id-referenced view-dom-id-8538a4be39a115aff6959797abfad061"> <div class="view-content view-content-main"> <div class="views-row views-row-1 views-row-odd views-row-first views-row-last"> <div class="card-views-conditional"> <div class="field-content card-type">Resource</div> </div> <div class="card-date-display-override"> <div class="card-date"><span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2012-11-05T00:00:00+00:00">05 November 2012</span></div> </div> <div class="card-title-et"> <h3><a href="/resources/mental-capacity-in-the-face-of-need-for-essential-treatment">Mental capacity in the face of need for essential treatment</a></h3> </div> </div> </div> </div> </section> </div> </aside> </div> </main> <footer id="site-footer" role="contentinfo"> <section class="footer-first"> <div class="outer-wrapper"> <section class="block block-views"> <div class="view view-footer-sections view-id-footer_sections view-display-id-orgs view-display-grid view-dom-id-68bc1622a1e5f2ea950563b7ac609860"> <div class="view-header"> <script> if(jQuery('#Main.CRM_Contribute_Form_Contribution_Main').length > 0){ jQuery('#Main.CRM_Contribute_Form_Contribution_Main').on('submit',function(e){ setTimeout(function(){ e.preventDefault(); 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