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Chapter 5 - Withholding and Withdrawing Medical Treatment: Legal, Ethical, and Practical Considerations

from Part I - General Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 May 2020

By
Cameron Stewart ,
Tiit Mathiesen ,
Ahmed Ammar  and
Stephen Honeybul
Edited by
Stephen Honeybul
Stephen Honeybul
Affiliation:
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Royal Perth and Fiona Stanley Hospitals
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Summary

Consent also serves a third function - the relational function - by providing an environment that fosters relationships of trust between the treating team, the patient and their family. In neurosurgery, where patients are faced with death and have few if any choices open to them beyond surgery, and where surgery is very risky and its’ outcomes difficult to predict, it can be argued that the permissive and risk functions of consent become less important, and the relational function comes to the fore.

Keywords

withholding treatmentwithdrawing treatmentvalue of lifemedical litigation
Type
Chapter
Information
Ethics in Neurosurgical Practice , pp. 39 - 53
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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References

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