The Takeaway: Sex and the Nursing Home
Posted on 06/26/2012 by Elizabeth Brown | Brooklyn, NY | Comments
News RoundupsI’ll admit I’ve not thought much about the sex lives of nursing home residents. But several Australian researchers have, with particular concern for patients with dementia. In a new paper in the Journal of Medical Ethics, they charge residential care facilities with denying residents “a basic human right” by discouraging or prohibiting consensual sexual activities. Consent, of course, is part of the issue when it comes to people with cognitive impairment such as dementia. But the start of dementia doesn’t mean the end of desire.
