Family Decision-Making about End-of-Life Care

A family therapist doing research that seeks families and patients deal with the process of making decisions at the end-of-life also serves as a clinician providing palliative care consultation at a local hospital. When a family who gave their informed consent to participate in her study confesses that they only did so because they thought their family member who is dying would not receive needed treatment with their participation, a number of ethical questions arise.

Case Study / Scenario