Ensuring Respect for Human Rights in Locked-Down Care Homes

住宿护理设施一直处于COVID-19大流行的中心，感染率和死亡率都很高。作为回应，许多养老院被长时间“封锁”，对居民和希望访问他们的人的自由都有更大的限制。即使更广泛的社会从封锁中出现，这些限制仍然存在于养老院。如果/当这些限制最终被取消时，它们可能会在任何报告新感染的护理院重新实施。该项目的目的是确定如何最好地确保在大流行期间和可能随之而来的“新常态”中保护封闭式养老院居民的人权。该项目侧重于大流行期间护理院常见的三种做法：对居民及其访客的行动实施全面限制;全面使用“请勿尝试肺复苏”命令;限制将不适患者转移到急诊医院设施的决定。该项目涉及两个主要问题。1)在突发公共卫生事件的背景下，应如何解释生命、自由和不歧视等人权并将其适用于这三种做法？2)最佳利益评估员（BIA）和独立精神能力倡导者（IMCA）等现有角色如何最好地适应，以帮助确保尊重在锁定护理院生活和死亡的居民的人权？

Residential care facilities have been at the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, with high rates of infection and high mortality rates. In response, many care homes have been 'locked-down' for extended periods, with expanded restrictions on the liberty both of residents and of those who wish to visit them. Even as the broader society emerges from lockdown, these restrictions continue in care home settings. If/when the restrictions are finally lifted, they are likely to be re-imposed in any care home where a new infection is reported. The aim of this project is to determine how best to ensure that the human rights of residents of locked-down care homes are protected, both during the pandemic itself and in the 'new normal' that is likely to follow. The project focuses on three practices that have been common in care homes during the pandemic: the use of blanket restrictions on the movement of residents and their visitors; the blanket use of "Do Not Attempt Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation" (DNACPR) orders; decisions to restrict transfer of unwell patients to acute-care hospital facilities. The project addresses two main questions. 1) How should the human rights to (inter alia) life, liberty, and non-discrimination be interpreted and applied to these three practices in the context of a public health emergency?2) How can existing roles such as best-interests assessors (BIAs) and independent mental capacity advocates (IMCAs) best be adapted to help ensure respect for the human rights of residents who are living and dying in locked-down care homes?