Ethical, Moral and Legal Guidelines For Senior's Surgery: Innovative Surgery and Seniors

Addressing concerns of ethical, moral and legal guidelines with respect to innovative seniors’ surgery involves many different aspects including input from family members, or the lack thereof.

Part of the increasing concern with respect to surgery for seniors has to do with their age factor, in conjunction with their health status. In other words, are the seniors, young seniors, who still have the ability to handle their own health related affairs or are they getting older and gradually losing that ability, as time passes? Then, there are the oldest of the seniors who cannot function in that capacity and must have others look after them and their health-related affairs, including anything related to surgery.     

For seniors, the decision making process becomes an area of growing concern with respect to ethical, moral and legal guidelines for surgery. In other words, is the senior in question able to make decisions that are appropriate in terms of possible surgical intervention?   

A senior’s level of comprehension with respect to innovative, surgical techniques and procedures raises serious concern. Many seniors resist transition or change with respect to every aspect of their lives, including surgery. 

For example, what a surgical patient deemed appropriate surgery at age sixty-five may be outmoded with respect to how the surgical team perceives it, but it is something that the senior understands and comprehends. At age eighty, he or she may not understand why it is no longer surgically appropriate. In other words, that senior may insist upon an outmoded, surgical procedure rather than allowing something innovative, new and different in terms of surgical procedures.

The realm of inter-personal relationships enters into the picture, when it comes to surgery for seniors. How well the family members tend to interact, determines to some extent what will happen to seniors, as well as possible surgery they may require. What are their desires with respect to senior family members?  Is longevity a mutual, family goal? Is the senior’s quality of life important to the family?

In Leslie Knowlton’s article “Ethical Issues in the Care of the Elderly”, Prager suggests, “So before elective surgery, discuss what are the goals of surgery; what is the literature on the likelihood of success?”

There are growing numbers of areas of concern for seniors undergoing surgery, including risk factors, do not resuscitate orders, organ transplants, enteral feeds and cost-benefit ratio, all linked to the possibility of confusion leading to accidents or falls. There is also the reality of gender differences that may be a pre-determining factor with respect to innovative surgery.

There are already existing ethical, moral and legal guidelines for seniors in the surgical realm. While this is true in some areas and they may suffice, because of the vast extent of new or innovative aspects of surgery and new technological advances, there is always a demand for new vision.

A healthy balance of innovation with ongoing documentation in terms of surgical records leading to further analysis, inquiry and research, will benefit seniors. At the same time, there are continually increasing numbers of seniors who need professional surgical care, in conjunction with appropriate health care management.

At some point in time, it may come down to lack of surgeons and other health professionals to care for seniors, once again making further revision of ethical, moral and legal guidelines for surgery essential, but for different reason. There may also be a lack of facilities.

There is no doubt that this will present a challenge for the future in terms of ethical, moral and legal guidelines for seniors’ surgery.