Ethical aspects of decision-making at the limit of viability

The practice of respecting patients’ autonomy is rooted in the healthcare professionals’ empathy for patients’ situations, without which appropriate supports to the patients during the informed consent process may be remarkably moderated. The purpose of this study was to explore elective surgery patients’ experiences during their decision-making process. This research was conducted using a phenomenological approach, and the data analysis was guided by Colaizzi’s method. A total of 17 participants were recruited from a hospital in southern Taiwan. Two major themes emerged from the analyses: (a) a voluntary yet necessary alternative—to undergo a surgery and (b) alternatives compelled by the unalterable decision—the surgery. It was concluded that unless healthcare professionals can empathize with the distressed situation of their patients who are facing elective surgery, the practice of informed consent may become merely a routine. Nurses can be the best advocates for patients and facilitators to enhance communication between patients and healthcare personnel.

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The Chilcot Report

How International Law Works in Times of Crisis ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198849667.003.0017 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 273-288

Author(s):

Stephen Bouwhuis

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

United Kingdom ◽

International Law ◽

Legal Practice ◽

Ethical Aspects ◽

Legal Advice ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

General Relevance ◽

The Government

The inquiry by the United Kingdom into its decision to intervene in Iraq is one of the longest running and most comprehensive examinations of government decision-making. In particular, the inquiry examined in detail the processes by which legal advice was provided to and formed a part of the decision by the Government of the United Kingdom to intervene in Iraq. Through this lens, the current chapter examines what the inquiry illustrates about the general relevance of international law to the decision to intervene in Iraq and more broadly what illustrates about the role of international law in decision-making more generally. In particular, the chapter pertains to the practical and ethical aspects providing international legal advice to government as well as the nature of government legal practice more generally.

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Medical ethics

Oxford Textbook of Medicine ◽

10.1093/med/9780198746690.003.0005 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 20-25

Author(s):

Mike Parker ◽

Mehrunisha Suleman ◽

Tony Hope

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Evidence Based Medicine ◽

Critical Assessment ◽

Best Interests ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Clinical Decisions ◽

Ethical Aspects ◽

Scientific Medicine ◽

Critical Skills ◽

Based Medicine

Medicine is both a scientific and a moral enterprise. It is as important to give reasons for the ethical aspects of clinical decisions as it is for the scientific aspects. The corollary of evidence-based medicine is reason-based ethics. Two concepts central to many ethical aspects of clinical practice are autonomy and best interests. Evidence-based medicine emphasizes the importance of critical assessment: interventions should be evaluated on the basis of evidence, not tradition. Critical skills are therefore crucial to modern scientific medicine. Importantly, medicine is a moral enterprise as well as a scientific one. Many clinical decisions involve a combination of factual and ethical aspects. It is as important to be able to give good reasons for the ethical aspects of clinical decisions as it is for the science. Society increasingly expects this from doctors as part of transparent decision-making.

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Importance of Ethical Aspects for Decision-Making

Business and Economic Research ◽

10.5296/ber.v10i3.17292 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 35

Author(s):

Zdenek Dytrt ◽

Radomir Serek

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Sustainable Growth ◽

Educational Institutions ◽

Decision Making Process ◽

Ethical Aspects ◽

Quantitative Management ◽

Complex Decision Making ◽

Effective Decision ◽

Complex Decision ◽

Effective Decision Making

The management theory did not develop equally with the changes in technologies. The consequence of this shortcoming is a prevalence of quantitative management which puts an emphasis on the quantitative values. This represents a risk for the sustainable growth. Therefore, the managerial ethics, which biases qualitative values and attitudes, is important for the managers' decision-making. The effective decision-making process is further based not only on the manager's experience, which may lead to a certain routine, but also on the cooperation among the other departments and educational institutions. Furthermore, the successful innovations, which are often an outcome of the systemic and complex decision-making, require to follow certain rules during their implementation. A person may become an initiator, leader, subject or a consumer of the innovation and should be adequately prepared for all these roles. Despite the abrupt development in the technical areas there is not such progress in the humanities. Education is still more focused on the content and form (thus quantity) rather than on the applications and relations (quality).

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Decision-making at the limit of viability: the Austrian neonatal choice context

BMC Pediatrics ◽

10.1186/s12887-019-1569-5 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Michal Stanak ◽

Katharina Hawlik

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Choice Context ◽

Limit Of Viability

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Shared Decision Making at the Limit of Viability: A Blueprint for Physician Action

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0166151 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 11 (11) ◽

pp. e0166151 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Thierry Daboval ◽

Sarah Shidler ◽

Daniel Thomas

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Shared Decision Making ◽

Shared Decision ◽

Limit Of Viability

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BIOETIKA DALAM PERSPEKTIF ISLAM SEBAGAI PENGAWAL PERKEMBANGAN BIOLOGI MODERN

ULUL ALBAB Jurnal Studi Islam ◽

10.18860/ua.v0i0.2408 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Eko Budi Minarno

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Critical Thinking ◽

Educational Level ◽

Ethical Decision ◽

Ethical Decision Making ◽

Human Beings ◽

Ethical Aspects ◽

Modern Biology ◽

Islamic Bioethics ◽

Islamic Perspective

Modern biology has been developing so rapidly that the field can amazingly provides great benefits for human beings’ prosperous life either at present or in the future. It may, however, influence the ethical aspects negatively due to reductionism. Therefore, bioethics is highly required to control the devastating growth of modern biology and drive it toward persistent commitment upon human benefits (maslahah). This paper suggests that Bioethics–based learning be implemented in any educational level to develop the students’ critical thinking. Such learning might be put into practice by promoting the ethical decision-making method integrated with religious (Islamic) perspective. The integration would result in the students’ considering the six principles of Islamic bioethics in any modern biology studies so that the students can precisely predict the beneficial or dangerous consequences of their scientific activities.

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Ethical aspects in the use of radiation in medicine: update from ICRP Task Group 109

Annals of the ICRP ◽

10.1177/0146645320929630 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 49 (1_suppl) ◽

pp. 143-153 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

F. Bochud ◽

M.C. Cantone ◽

K. Applegate ◽

M. Coffey ◽

J. Damilakis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Evaluation Method ◽

Occupational Exposures ◽

Biomedical Ethics ◽

Task Group ◽

Dose Effect ◽

Medical Professionals ◽

Radiological Protection ◽

Ethical Values ◽

Ethical Aspects

Whereas scientific evidence is the basis for recommendations and guidance on radiological protection, professional ethics is critically important and should always guide professional behaviour. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) established Task Group 109 to advise medical professionals, patients, families, carers, the public, and authorities about the ethical aspects of radiological protection of patients in the diagnostic and therapeutic use of radiation in medicine. Occupational exposures and research-related exposures are not within the scope of this task group. Task Group 109 will produce a report that will be available to the different interested parties for consultation before publication. Presently, the report is at the stage of a working document that has benefitted from an international workshop organised on the topic by the World Health Organization. It presents the history of ethics in medicine in ICRP, and explains why this subject is important, and the benefits it can bring to the standard biomedical ethics. As risk is an essential part in decision-making and communication, a summary is included on what is known about the dose–effect relationship, with emphasis on the associated uncertainties. Once this theoretical framework has been presented, the report becomes resolutely more practical. First, it proposes an evaluation method to analyse specific situations from an ethical point of view. This method allows stakeholders to review a set of six ethical values and provides hints on how they could be balanced. Next, various situations (e.g. pregnancy, elderly, paediatric, end of life) are considered in two steps: first within a realistic, ethically challenging scenario on which the evaluation method is applied; and second within a more general context. Scenarios are presented and discussed with attention to specific patient circumstances, and on how and which reflections on ethical values can be of help in the decision-making process. Finally, two important related aspects are considered: how should we communicate with patients, family, and other stakeholders; and how should we incorporate ethics into the education and training of medical professionals?

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