Withholding Treatment
Withholding Treatment, also known as ‘non-treatment’, is a medical decision-making process that occurs when medical treatments are deliberately not given, either in the interest of the patient or in certain cases the best interests of the community. The situation is most common where the patients lack capacity to make decisions on their own due to age, mental health, or other factors. Additionally, it may be appropriate in cases where treatments are futile and the patient has requested no interventions; for example, when the patient has made a living will. Withholding Treatment is ethically and legally complex, as it involves balancing the rights of the patient to autonomy and shared decision-making with the duty of clinicians to act in the patient’s best interests. In cases involving Withholding Treatment, a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, legal professionals, and ethicists must make decisions together to ensure that the patient is receiving the best possible care.
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