Brian Herd speaks at LASA Q Conference on Sex, Care & the Law

Brian Herd, Partner at CRH Law and our Lead Legal Professional at Heather Hill Pathways has recently spoken on the delicate subject of sexual expression in aged care at the Queensland LASA (Leading Age Services Australia) conference on the Gold Coast.

The message was that old age and sexual expression are not mutually exclusive.  Unfortunately, in residential aged care where many peoples’ private lives are played out in public places, our natural later life human desires can be suppressed by a system which finds it difficult to cope with sexual expression.  Residents attempts to express themselves can be frustrated by staff moral attitudes and the ever present family who cannot conceive that mum or dad may have natural human desires.

It’s time the aged care sector confronted this and acknowledged that facilitating sexual expression for a resident can be an essential element of good care and happiness.