Vol VIII, Issue 3
Date of Publication: July 02, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.20529/IJME.2023.011
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Case Study
To have done everything
Rosalie A Looijaard
Nico Nortjé
Abstract:
When a patient loses decisional capacity, the responsibility to make treatment decisions often falls on a family member who becomes the surrogate decision-maker. This case study provides an example of a situation where the medical team and the surrogate decision-maker initially disagreed on the best course of action for the patient. The ethicist was called in to lead a guided conversation to help the team and the surrogate decision-maker reach a consensus. This case illustrates the importance of allowing the surrogate decision-maker to ask clarifying questions and process their emotions before making a decision.
Copyright and license
©Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 2023: Open Access and Distributed under the Creative Commons license ( CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits only non-commercial and non-modified sharing in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.