Ethics and long-term care: some reflections on information management.

The ethical questions created by rapidly changing long-term care systems are demanding a much more intimate involvement of the information management professional. No longer is confidentiality one of the prime considerations. The ethical principles of justice, autonomy, dignity of person, beneficence, truth telling, and utility are becoming a daily part of the information task in long-term care. The informal character of the long-term care facility requires a larger role for the information specialist. The result is that the information management role is being greatly expanded into the arena of ethical oversight of the information stream in long-term care facilities.