decisional capacity

[ORBITAL BEBOP]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

How is decisional capacity different from capacity to take prescription meds in potential hospice patients?

And what in the heck is an ethics consult?

 

[Hurricane]

How is decisional capacity different from capacity to take prescription meds in potential hospice patients?

And what in the heck is an ethics consult?

Ethics consults are called when you have a difficult situation and you need help figuring out what to do. Hospitals usually have an ethics committee comprised of physicians from various disciplines that meets whenever needed. Ethics consults often have something to do with end-of-life care esp if a patient lacks capacity and there is a question of whether to withdraw care, or family members disagree on whether to withdraw care, or there is no surrogate decision maker, etc.

I'm not sure what "capacity to take prescription meds in potential hospice patients" means - can you be more specific?

 

[Doc Samson]

To answer your specific question, I'd need more information, but the classic article on capacity is:

Appelbaum PS, Grisso T. Assessing patients' capacities to consent to treatment. N Engl J Med. 1988 Dec 22;319(25):1635-8