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Association Il Samaritano OdV
The association Il Samaritano Odv, partner of the Federation Palliative Cares, was born in 1988 in Codogno and is currently based in Via dei Canestrai, 1/b.
Our volunteers deal with the reception and accompaniment of the severely ill person and their family. Activities are based on various types of intervention: free transport of patients to care centers, provision of free health aids for home care, presence of volunteers in all oncology departments that operate in our territory (from prevention to treatment), as well as the presence in the hospices and in palliative cares services.
Furthermore, psychological support is offered at hospices where some integrative therapies and complementary activities such as music therapy and color therapy are proposed, which are entrusted to professionals supported by the association.
Special care is also given to people who need psychological support, individual or in groups, through the grieving process.
Over the years, our collaboration with the schools has intensified, in order to raise awareness among students on topics connected to loss, grief and the diffusion of the culture of palliative care among young people.
The protection of health is a fundamental right
Constitution of the Italian Republic, Art. 32
“The Republic aims to protect health as a fundamental right of the individual and an interest of collectivity. Nobody should be forced to receive a particular health treatment except by provision of law. The law can in no case violate the limits imposed by respect of the human being”.
Law n. 38 of 15 March 2010
That law protects and guarantees the right of a citizen to access palliative care and pain therapy, “in order to ensure respect for the dignity and autonomy of the human person, the need for health, equity in the access to assistance, the quality of the cure and their appropriateness regarding specific needs”. The aim of the law is to protect and promote the quality of life until its end and adequate support not only in terms of healthcare but also social-assistance of the ill person and their family.
Palliative cares and the contexts in which it’s provided
Law 38/2010 defines palliative care as “all the therapeutic, diagnostic and care interventions, directed to both the sick person and their family, aimed at the active and total care of patients whose underlying disease, caused by an unstoppable evolution and an inauspicious prognosis, no longer responds to specific treatments”.
Palliative care deals not only with physical pain but also with the psychological and spiritual suffering and the social needs of the sick person and their family; it is granted at hospices, at home, in hospital and in residential healthcare facilities and are not only addressed to oncological patients but to all those suffering from incurable diseases.
Law N. 219 of 22 December 2017
Norms regarding informed consent and advanced provision of treatment
The law promotes and enhances the relationship of care and trust between the patient and the doctor, which is based on informed consent: it deals with aspects such as pain therapy, prohibition of unreasonable obstinacy of treatment (aggressive treatment), the respect of dignity in the final phase of life and a full enhancement of palliative care (ref. Law 38/2010).
Shared Care Planning
Communication time between doctor and patient constitutes care time.
The relationship of care and trust between patient and doctor is promoted and enhanced, which is based on informed consent in which are included the patient’s decision-making autonomy, competence, professional autonomy and the responsibility of the doctor.
In the relationship between patient and doctor, with respect to the evolving of the consequences of a chronic and disabling pathology, or characterized by an unstoppable evolution with an inauspicious prognosis, a shared planning of treatments can be implemented, to which the doctor and the medical team are required to comply if the patient is in a position to no longer be able to express their consent. Treatment planning can be updated according to the progressive evolution of the disease, at the patient’s request or at the doctor’s suggestion.
The DAT (advance provisions of treatment) and the trustee
DATs (advance provisions of treatment) are also called “bio testament” or “living will”: these are the indications that a person, of legal age and mentally fit, could express – only after having obtained appropriate medical information about the consequences of their choices – in relation to the acceptance or rejection of certain health treatments (diagnostic checks, therapeutic choices), in anticipation of a possible and future inability to choose independently. DATs are always modifiable and/or revocable.
The trustee is a person of legal age and capacity, chosen by the person who prepares the DAT in order to act on their behalf and represent them in the interactions with doctors and healthcare facilities, should the person be unable to do so.
The appointment of the trustee may be indicated and signed in the DAT, or the appointment and acceptance by the trustee may themselves may take place through different and subsequent acts.
The DAT may be drafted and filed:
- by a notary;
- at the Civil Status Office of the municipality of residence;
- at the competent healthcare facilities;
- directly by the citizen, after consultation at a dedicated office.
Mail Contact for information
For information, the Samaritan Association will activate from September 2024 a dedicated counter; more details on our website www.ilsamaritano.org or by writing to the email address biotestamento@ilsamaritano.org