When patients are unable to express their wishes and do not have surrogates or advance directives, which and whose values should inform decision making for them? We discuss ethical complexities of caring for unrepresented patients.
Jing Li, PhD, Robert Tyler Braun, PhD, Sophia Kakarala, and Holly G. Prigerson, PhD
For dying patients and their loved ones to make informed decisions, physicians must share adequate information about prognoses, prospective benefits and harms of specific interventions, and costs.
AMA J Ethics. 2022;24(11):E1040-1048. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2022.1040.
Monitoring surgeons’ capacities over time are rooted in professional duties to protect patients’ safety. Aging surgeons should undergo assessments and be encouraged to stop practicing before their diminished skill becomes too risky.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(10):986-992. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.10.ecas2-1610.
When the patient delivers a low-birth-weight infant that requires extensive time in the neonatal intensive, should she be held responsible? Where do we draw the line? More importantly, on what basis do we draw the line?