Katie Farley

There is an unspoken judgement from Sarah and the reader, that Mrs Jones has the capacity and is entitled to make the ‘less significant’ decisions, such as the dress she wants to wear and shade of lipstick, for herself. I believe Sarah would agree that for Mrs Jones dignity it is important that the care staff assist her to exercise her right to freedom of choice. So why is it that when Mrs Jones makes her opinion obvious that she doesn’t want to wear her wig to the christening, there is resistance from Sarah and disturbance in the mind of the reader as to whether she should be persuaded or forced into wearing it?

The situation is complicated by our preconceptions of Mrs Jones diagnosis of dementia and how that affects her autonomy, the fact it is an important family event and most importantly the contradiction of the expectations and wishes of her close family. Of course, the views of those that know her best definitely hold value and are useful when providing the best care for their mother, however, they should still come second if Mrs Jones is able to make and articulate an informed decision for herself.

I believe we need to consider our own awareness, as the people with the ability to empower her, of how we uphold Mrs Jones dignity. Is it by ensuring that people think she looks pretty or is it more important to honour and respect her freedom of choice not to wear her wig even when we don’t agree with the decision?

I can empathise with Sarah and you could argue she is just trying to act in Mrs Jones best interest but in this situation to best uphold Mrs Jones dignity, she should be treated as an individual and be supported to make her own decisions, devoid of our own and other people’s judgement of if they are wise or not.