Add "Compassion" to HDC Code of Rights

With respect to the Review of the Health and Disability Commissioners Act 1994 and the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights;

And in accordance with the suggested change to the Code of Rights notified in the HDC Consultation Document, Appendix 2, Paragraph 2.3.1 on page 38;

We urge you to add to the Code of Rights, The right to be treated with compassion.

We recommend that Right 1: Right to be Treated with Respect is amended to Right 1: Right to be treated with compassion and respect.

We further recommend that an additional clause be added under Right 1,
(4) Every consumer has the right to have services provided with compassion, including a prompt and humane response to distress, pain and suffering.


Why do we want to change the Code of Rights?
Compassion is defined as the humane quality of understanding suffering in others and wanting to do something about it.

We believe that caring and compassion are core values that motivate health professionals but our institutions and professions have evolved in ways that limit the expression of compassion. While the majority of health consumers are satisfied with their care, the increasingly technical nature of healthcare means that some consumers have experiences of healthcare that can feel thoughtless or uncaring and that fail to recognise or attend to distress and suffering. We need to restore the balance between clinical treatment and compassionate caring.

While it may be hard to define a standard for compassionate caring, a lack of compassion is easily recognised when the basic human needs of health consumers are disregarded. This neglect is apparent when pain and suffering is ignored, when waiting is unexplained, when consumers are left cold or hungry or left to lie on soiled linen, when consumers are addressed with unfeeling detachment, when emotional needs are brushed aside, when apology or support is denied, and when hope is needlessly extinguished. The test of the Code of Rights is in the breach. The lack of compassion is usually obvious.

On the positive side, compassionate caring is defined less by the act than by the emotional response of the consumer and family the experience of loving kindness and the relief of pain, fear and suffering.


Are the existing rights strong enough?
The Commissioner has stated his view in the Consultation Document that the existing right to be treated with Respect (Right 1) and with Dignity and Independence (Right 3) already encompass the elements of a right to compassion. We disagree.

The Encarta Dictionary defines dignity as self-respect, seriousness in behaviour, worthiness, due respect, high office; and respect as esteem somebody or something, not go against or violate something, be considerate toward somebody or something.

The same dictionary defines compassion as sympathy, empathy, concern, kindness, consideration, care, warmth.

We believe that these humane values at the heart of healthcare need to be more explicitly stated and that respect and dignity and independence do not adequately express our meaning and purpose.

We urge you to add the Right to be treated with compassion.