Decison Making
Many of the decisions we make are fairly straightforward but there are other circumstances when making a decision is extremely difficult - example include:
- Conflict between adolescents and their parents regarding treatment
- Conflict between family and doctors regarding treatment
- Conflict within a healthcare team
- Decisions surrounding palliative care and end of life
- Assessment of quality of life
- Best use of limited healthcare resources - for example donor organs, intensive care facilities, financial (hospital, government)
In these circumstances applying an ethical framework to the decision making process can be very helpful.
Jonsen, Siegler and Winslade provide an excellent approach to navigating these, often conflicting areas in their recent publication Clinical Ethics: A Practical Approach to Ethical Decisions in Clinical Medicine
McGraw Hill / Medical; 9th edition (17 Jan. 2022), ISBN-10: 1260457540; ISBN-13: 978-1260457544