Withholding treatment: What, Whom and Why? (Journal of Medical Ethics)

When is it permissible for medical professionals to withhold a medical intervention? Several considerations might immediately be deemed morally relevant to such a decision. Does the medical professional believe that the intervention is in the patient`s best interests? Is the patient competent, and has she refused to consent to the intervention? These considerations are routinely invoked in end-of-life decision-making. Indeed, in this issue, White et al. present important empirical data concerning the role that law and personal ethical principles play in healthcare professionals` decisions to withhold and withdraw life-sustaining treatment from adults who lack capacity. Other articles in this issue go beyond the end of life context to address provocative questions about the permissibility of (and the rationales for) withholding different kinds of medical interventions from different kinds of (potential) patients. What is Withheld, and Why? In the clinical ethics section of this issue, papers by Paddy McQueen...