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The Physician as a Health Care Proxy
Author(s) -
Rai Arti,
Siegler Mark,
Lantos John
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
hastings center report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.515
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1552-146X
pISSN - 0093-0334
DOI - 10.2307/3527731
Subject(s) - paternalism , proxy (statistics) , health care , conflict of interest , psychology , nursing , family medicine , medicine , political science , law , machine learning , computer science
Many states prohibit patients from appointing their physicians as health care proxies, fearing paternalism and conflict of interest. But the potential for conflict is not unique to physicians, and patients may have compelling reasons to prefer that their doctor make decisions on their behalf. Managing potential conflicts serves patients better than denying them the right to choose who will make health care decisions for them when they are no longer competent.