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Chapter 14 - You’re the Ethicist; I’m Just the Surgeon

from Part IV - Withholding Therapy with a Twist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2025

Paul J. Ford
Affiliation:
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland
Denise M. Dudzinski
Affiliation:
University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle
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Summary

In this chapter of Complex Ethics Consultations: Cases that Haunt Us, the authors discuss a circumstance of a request by a family to withdraw life-sustaining surgery only three days after open-heart surgery. The surgeon both wanted to respect family and to advocate for life for the patient. Although chances of recovery were slim, the surgeon struggled with the timing. The family had experienced a rocky postoperative course and were convinced that continuing was not what patient would want.

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Type
Chapter
Information
Complex Ethics Consultations
Cases that Haunt Us
, pp. 115 - 120
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

DeMarco, JP, Ford, PJ. Balancing in ethical deliberation: Superior to specification and casuistry. J Med Philos, 2006; 31(5): 483–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernal, E. Errors in ethics consultation. In: Rubin, SB, Zoloth, L, eds. Margin of Error: The Ethics of Mistakes in the Practice of Medicine. Hagerstown, MD: University Publishing Group; 2000: 255–72.Google Scholar
Hardwig, J. The problem of proxies with interests of their own: Toward a better theory of proxy decisions. J Clin Ethics, 1993; 4(1): 20–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brody, BA. Hardwig on proxy decision making. J Clin Ethics, 1993; 4(1): 66–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

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