How to Retain the Trust of Patients and Families when we will not Provide the Treatment they want
Howe, E.G.
Journal of Clinical Ethics 26(2): 89-99
2015
ISSN/ISBN: 1046-7890 PMID: 26132054 Document Number: 683098
How might clinicians best try to retain the trust of patients and family members after clinicians oppose giving a treatment? If clinicians can maintain the trust of patients and families in these situations, this may soften what may be the greatest possible loss--the death of a loved one. I discuss what clinicians seeking to retain trust should not do--namely impose their values and reason wrongly--and introduce strategies that clinicians may use to reduce both. I present five principles that clinicians can follow to try to retain trust, with examples that illustrate each. I suggest specific interventions that clinicians can make, especially when they anticipate that a patient and/or family may, in time, want a treatment that is futile.