title: To treat or not to treat: On what should surgical therapy be based?
abstract: Dr C. Autious has just returned from the most prestigious vascular surgery meeting in America. At the meeting, one of the most prominent complex aneurysm surgeons arose to discuss a paper concerning a procedure he had developed and popularized over the last decade. Dr L. Uminous stunned the audience with his declaration that he no longer recommends that his namesake procedure be performed. Instead, he proclaimed that a new, radically different procedure be adopted immediately. He showed slides detailing the novel proposal but did not give data concerning results obtained. The recommended procedure is technically possible but seems to require a different skill set. Dr Autious has a patient scheduled for elective surgery that he had planned to use the Uminous procedure to treat. What should he do? A. Do the recommended procedure as best you can. B. Refer the patient to Dr Uminous. C. Offer the recommended procedure with full disclosure. D. Give full disclosure and let the patient decide which procedure to use. E. Put the procedure on hold until more information becomes available.
authors.affiliation: The Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tex. Electronic address: jwjones@bcm.edu.
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: The Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tex.
authors.forename: Laurence B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: McCullough
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003657:Decision Making / Q000941:ethics*; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D059039:Standard of Care / Q000941:ethics*; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000639:trends