Defending patient autonomy: the case of the challenging spouse.
A case of a 61-year-old patient with advancing cancer is presented. His care was confounded by his wife challenging the care being delivered. The case report is followed by commentaries on the case from three scholarly perspectives, medicine, philosophy, and law.
Lowy
Joseph
J
New York University School of Medicine, New York City, NY, USA.
Lebovits
Allen
A
Zhukovsky
Donna
D
D006801:Humans; D028701:Patient Rights; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D016312:Treatment Refusal