Freedom and Safety
November 13, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Earlier this month, 27-year-old Joshua Polak darted into traffic while leaving his job training center in Omaha and was in a minor traffic accident, MSCBC news reports.
Developmental Services of Nebraska’s Roger Stortenbecker said Polak’s safety is the center’s No. 1 priority. But Polak isn’t a prisoner, Stortenbecker said, and Polak’s growth and development will inherently involve a certain amount of risk in society.
“Is the expectation that we protect people from all the community so that there’s no chance of anything bad happening?” he said. “Or do we at least give people the dignity of being in the community with the support they need and the best assurance nothing bad will happen?”
Stortenbecker said the last thing he wants is a return to the primitive procedures used in the past when mentally ill people were locked in institutions.
Polak’s parents agree, but want their son to have more supervision.
Polak’s now at a different facility away from busy streets, and is being evaluated for one-on-one supervision. But how to balance freedom and safety?
We are in the same position in our school with a student who is partially blind, uses a walker for mobility, is primarily non-verbal and is a little person. He has sustained many, many minor head injuries from walking around with nearly constant supervision, but still smashing into things. There is only so much a full sized adult can do to stop a speeding teenager who is just a tiny bit over two feet tall from running into a post, or a wall, or a table, or whatever. So do we put him in a wheelchair (and with that take away his right to ambulate)? Do we have him wear a bike helmet and give him free range (and risk being accused of using mechanical restraints)? Do we continue to shadow/guard him and take away his ability to be independent while keeping him not totally safe? There is no good answer. How do we balance dignity and independence with safety?
Kate – I don’t have an answer, but I do give you a great deal of credit for wrestling with the question and trying to keep the dignity of the person as a key part of the decision. There are many who would take the most legally defensible position and not worry at all about the dignity of the individual.