In today’s society surrogates follow the kinship lines on the belief that relatives are more likely to know the patient’s desires in the hopes that the patient’s best interest is at heart. In many cases, the provider may suspect a conflict between the interests of the patient and the interest of the surrogate (Baillie et al., 2013 p. 47 - 48). According to Birchley (2010), the parent’s rights to consent must be limited to decisions that are in the best interest of the child, even though defining a child’s best interest is very difficult to define. The author further discusses children’s sense of autonomy manifest in their ability to express their opinion when it comes to treatment, even though the child’s opinion may not be heavily considered it should still be included in the decision making (Birchley, 2010, p. 283). In the circumstances when this does happen, health care professionals have a responsibility to do no harm and to further discuss the situation with the family members to reach an agreement. Since situations similar to this happen often, providers must proceed with caution and if necessary seek court interventions if the patient’s best interest is not the priority. Surrogates are pivotal in the treatment of others, but they do not and should not always have the final word (Baillie et al., 2013 p. …show more content…
There are many cases that discuss anorexia, depression, or other capacity-decreasing impairments that allow patient decision making, or the contrary, by supporting clinician deeming the patient is a lack of capacity (Campbell, 2012, p. 629 – 630). Patient refusal of treatment can push forward issues regarding passive or assisted suicide. If a patient refuses medication or care than they can be moved to palliative care, fulfilling the patient’s wishes and avoiding the issue of interfering with their principle of autonomy. In the circumstances the patient is refusing to eat than the provider can only incorporate positive reinforce and bring to attention the consequences of refusing feeding. End of life care is filled with various allegation that can be directed to the individuals caring for the patient. The refusal of treatment and care is another issue in health care that providers may be deemed unethical in their action. To walk the fine line of respecting the patient’s wishes while keeping their best interest at heart makes health care very difficult but still remains very