Bed Sores

Bed Sores

Should Patients Be Allowed to Die of Bed Sores?

One of the (few, in my book) real achievements of bioethics was the institution of the legal right to refuse unwanted medical treatment. But some things done for patients in a hospital aren't "medical" precisely, but rather, fall within the paramters of humane care. Keeping a patient warm, for example. Giving them oral food and water. Keeping them clean. And I would submit, turning the patient so they don't develop bed sores.

But now, the bioethicist Art Caplan-working off the facts of a real case-discusses whether humane care should be withheld if the patient doesn't want it. Ref. Source 9