WITHDRAWAL OF LIFE SUSTAINING THERAPY IN NEUROSURGICAL PATIENTS: AN URBAN BIOETHICAL REVIEW

Physicians encounter significant difficulty when faced with decisions related to withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy (WLST) in patients with devastating brain injury (DBI). The complexity of this decision-making process is multifactorial, including practitioner- and patient-specific variables, as well as surrogate decision-maker bias, inaccuracies in scoring systems, and inconsistencies in guidelines endorsed by professional societies; these issues all contribute to the significant uncertainty of these situations and variability in treatment paradigm. Solutions are complex; however, analyzing WLST with an urban bioethical lens — which emphasizes the principles of solidarity, agency, and social justice — can enhance physicians’ ability to navigate this uncertainty and ensure that potential solutions are patient-centered.

Grantor dc:publisher

Temple University. Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Cannon, Hershel

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Strand, Nicolle K.

• Medical ethics
• Ethics
• Neurosciences
• Bias
• Decision-making
• Devastating brain injury (DBI)
• Neurosurgery
• Urban bioethics
• Withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy (WLST)

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/8578

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/8578