Thursday, September 22, 2011

Surrogate vs. Care Team

A middle aged patient was rescued from a fire. He now has profound respiratory failure of multiple causes. In addition he has sustained significant anoxic brain trauma and is unresponsive. His care team does not see much chance of return to normal human functioning, and suggests a switch to comfort care to allow him to die. He has not spoken to any family members for years after a disagreement about an inheritance. His brother reluctantly shows up at the hospital and says that he wants full treatment for the man. Must the care team honor the brother’s request?

Would your response be different if the brother wanted to end treatment and the care team wanted treatment continued?

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