Should doctors intentionally do less than the best?

Journal article

The papers of Burley and Harris, and Draper and Chadwick, in this issue, raise a problem: what should doctors do when patients request an option which is not the best available? This commentary argues that doctors have a duty to offer that option which will result in the individual affected by that choice enjoying the highest level of wellbeing. Doctors can deviate from this duty and submaximise--bring about an outcome that is less than the best--only if there are good reasons to do so. The d...

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Authors: Savulescu, J

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Journal of medical ethics
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 121-126
• Publication date: 1999-04-01
• DOI: 10.1136/jme.25.2.121
• EISSN: 1473-4257
• ISSN: 0306-6800
• Language: English
• Keywords: Stress, Psychological; Social Values; Preimplantation Diagnosis; Patient Selection; Beneficence; Pregnancy; Humans; Genetic Diseases, Inborn; Complicity; Male; Personal Autonomy; Child Welfare; Moral Obligations; Infant, Newborn; Decision Making; Ethics, Medical; Cloning, Organism; Disabled Persons; Female