The Rights Of Palliative Care Patients In A Pandemic
Palliative care is advocated to be a human right. During the Covid-19 pandemic, as health care systems come under pressure and public health is prioritised, has the care of palliative care patients been compromised? Through a case presentation, ethical issues that affect the care provision of a palliative care patient are discussed as well as the clinical implications.
Speaker’s Biography – Associate Professor Ghauri Aggarwal
Associate Prof. Aggarwal has been the Head of the Palliative Care Department at Concord Hospital since 1996 and is currently the Deputy Clinical Director Cancer Services and Palliative Care Sydney Local Health District (SLHD). Her practice includes hospital consultancy, ambulatory and inpatient care in palliative medicine within the district wide Sydney Palliative Care Service, SLHD. She has been involved in the development of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Chapter of Palliative Medicine and is the chair of the Executive of the Sydney Institute of Palliative Medicine. Her interests include undergraduate and postgraduate education in palliative care, communication skills and ethics and end of life decision making. She has been involved for a number of years in the strategic development of Palliative Care in New South Wales. Currently she is involved in teaching and development of Palliative Care in the Asia-Pacific region.
Speaker’s Biography – Dr Sumytra Menon
Dr Sumytra Menon is the Co-Director for the Clinical Ethics Network + Research Ethics Support (CENTRES) initiative, which develops educational activities in clinical and transplant ethics to enhance capabilities in ethics committees work in Singapore. She is also Director of Continuing Education and Director of Organisational Development. In these roles, Sumy is responsible for CBmE’s Continuing Education programmes, and offers strategic insights and support regarding organisational development. Sumy is a lawyer by training, and her particular research interests are in healthcare decision-making, the law on mental capacity and at the end of life. Sumy teaches on the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and designs and develops the curriculum for CENTRES’ continuing education programmes. Previously, Sumy was Deputy Director of the PACE Programme at the Lien Centre for Palliative Care (Duke-NUS) where she conducted research in advance care planning and spearheaded the Centre’s e-educational initiatives in offering a blended learning platform for palliative care education.
