The right choice? Too little too soon?

Although the patient ultimately did not recover, the surgeon felt that she had lived up to her responsibility to respect her patient’s decision to have surgery, while not completely ignoring the family’s wishes. The family also felt that the surgeon had been respectful of their own interpretation of their father’s goals and values. Sometimes in the ethical care of surgical patients, there is not a right and a wrong answer, but a series of compromises that we all hope will lead to the best outcome for our patients.

Dr. Angelos is an ACS Fellow; the Linda Kohler Anderson Professor of Surgery and Surgical Ethics; chief, endocrine surgery; and associate director of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago.