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.
Shared decision making honors patient autonomy, particularly for preference-sensitive care decisions and even when patients have impaired decision-making capacity.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(5):E358-364. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.358.
William F. Parker, MD, MS and Marshall H. Chin, MD, MPH
Given organ scarcity, transplantation programs state that patient promises of compliance cannot be taken at face value, excluding candidates who are deemed untrustworthy.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(5):E408-415. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.408.
Shared decision making is practically difficult to implement in mental health practice but remains an ethical ideal for motivating therapeutic capacity.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(5):E446-451. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.446.