The participatory decision-making model for patient-physician relationships is the best approach for addressing the individual family-related and social influences that stress that relationship.
Physicians need to understand when it may be appropriate to let patients get involved in medical decision-making and when it may be necessary to provide their personal medical judgment.
The author describes some of the diverse training paths that may lead to becoming a bioethicist and how the breadth of this field is useful in exploring many ethical questions in the field of medicine.