Surrogate Decision-Making to Preserve Sexual Autonomy for Residents in Nursing Homes

William and Mary Law School student Elizabeth Hill takes on the challenge of discussing sex and seniors in her Student Note, "We'll Always Have Shady Pines: Surrogate Decision-Making Tools for Preserving Sexual Autonomy in Elderly Nursing Home Residents" for the Winter 2014 issue of the William and Mary Journal of Women and the Law.  She concludes:

"With changes to state law to expand the tool of power of attorney, residents who want to retain autonomy in decisions about their bodies and relationships could employ surrogate decision-making tools like durable powers of attorney and advance healthcare directives to ensure that they are able to participate in and enjoy sexual activity even after the have lost the capacity to consent and even if their families disapprove of the activity. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of adopting such a mechanism would be putting aside our personal and preconceived notions about sexual conduct in order to allow others to experience a little happiness in an otherwise gloomy setting."

The title for the article, alluding to Humphrey Bogart's famous line in Casablanca, is a clever introduction to a sensitive topic.