Life vs. death: the value of ethical uncertainty.
Technological advances, demographic changes, and scarce resources are forcing health care professionals to make life-or-death decisions with increasing frequency. The author analyzes the dangers of professional control in situations involving treatment-or-nontreatment choices, proposes a way of protecting the powerless in these situations, and explores the importance of procedures to guard against easy certainty.
Gelman
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D002755:Choice Behavior; D032781:Codes of Ethics; D003643:Death; D026724:Ethical Review; D004995:Ethics, Professional; D005065:Euthanasia; D005066:Euthanasia, Passive; D006801:Humans; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D018579:Patient Selection; D011788:Quality of Life; D040841:Resource Allocation; D012947:Social Work; D026712:Value of Life; D035862:Vulnerable Populations