LEGAL status of caregivers

This commentary discusses the information needs of family caregivers and care recipients in the United States. Health sciences library services and outreach activities that support family caregivers include: (1) advocacy, (2) resource building, and (3) programming and education. Ethical issues related to the privacy and confidentiality of clients are outlined in the commentary for information service providers.

There have been two widely reported criminal cases where informal carers, including family members, have been found guilty of the gross negligence manslaughter of the vulnerable person in their care. In this article, Richard Griffith considers the duty on informal carers when caring for a person and the duty on district nurses to protect vulnerable persons from harm. 

It is more than 25 years since the critical dialogue on young carers was played out in the pages of this journal (see Morris and Keith, 1995; Aldridge and Becker, 1996). Since that time, research evidence has given us a clearer picture of the extent of young caring in the UK and its consequences for children and families, including two new national studies that focus on the prevalence and impact of young caring in England.