Withholding treatment: What, Whom and Why?
When is it permissible for medical professionals to withhold a medical intervention? Several considerations might immediately be deemed morally relevant to such a decision. Does the medical professional believe that the intervention is in the patient's best interests? Is the patient competent,...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
BMJ Publ.
2017
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| In: |
Journal of medical ethics
Year: 2017, Volume: 43, Issue: 5, Pages: 279 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | When is it permissible for medical professionals to withhold a medical intervention? Several considerations might immediately be deemed morally relevant to such a decision. Does the medical professional believe that the intervention is in the patient's best interests? Is the patient competent, and has she refused to consent to the intervention? These considerations are routinely invoked in end-of-life decision-making. Indeed, in this issue, White et al. present important empirical data concerning the role that law and personal ethical principles play in healthcare professionals' decisions to withhold and withdraw life-sustaining treatment from adults who lack capacity. Other articles in this issue go beyond the end of life context to address provocative questions about the permissibility of (and the rationales for) withholding different kinds of medical interventions from different kinds of (potential) patients.In the clinical ethics section of this issue, papers by Paddy McQueen and Heidi Metres address the question of whether physicians may justifiably refuse voluntary sterilisation requests of competent women. Both authors acknowledge that such refusals may be grounded by the physician's prediction of future regret amongst putative recipients of the intervention. In … |
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| ISSN: | 1473-4257 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of medical ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2017-104311 |