Physicians have an obligation to consider a patient’s quality of life when making treatment decisions and should consider giving patients the options of withholding or withdrawing aggressive treatment if that treatment will not restore the kind of life the patient finds meaningful.
The concept stewardship borrows from collective action problems that cannot be solved by individuals only, just like those discussed in environmental ethics.
AMA J Ethics. 2024;26(6):E479-485. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2024.479.