#607: Autonomy and Advance Directives

Should we give an Alzheimer patient antibiotics?

TLDR: We might have reason to ignore a patient’s advance directives.

Let’s think about a prominent case in bioethics for a moment: “Margo” is a patient with Alzheimers who leads an unusually happy life. Even though she effectively repeats the same story every day, she can remember little of the pain or suffering that marked her past and so is persistent…