title: Ethical issues in surgical palliative care: am I killing the patient by "letting him go"?
abstract: Recent medical advances have complicated decisions regarding terminal care. Surgeons should be familiar with the ethical issues that contribute to end-of-life decision-making. Four clusters of ethical principles (autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice)are used commonly in ethical deliberations. Artificial ethical distinctions between withholding versus withdrawing care or ordinary versus extraordinary treatments can confuse clinical decision-making at the end of life. An ethics of death and dying requires that the intent and the action of the moral agent be considered.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Unit 444, P.O. Box 301402, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX 77030, USA. tmpawlik@mdanderson.org
authors.forename: Timothy M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Pawlik
authors.forename: Steven A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Curley
mesh_terms: D016223:Advance Directives / Q000941:ethics; D026686:Beneficence; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005066:Euthanasia, Passive / Q000941:ethics; D013502:General Surgery / Q000941:ethics; D006801:Humans; D018447:Medical Futility / Q000941:ethics; D009014:Morals; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000941:ethics*; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D012935:Social Justice / Q000941:ethics; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000941:ethics; D028761:Withholding Treatment / Q000941:ethics