Journal of palliative medicine
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Case Reports
When open-ended questions don't work: the role of palliative paternalism in difficult medical decisions.
Abstract The balance between patient autonomy and medical paternalism must be reexamined. The tension between autonomy and paternalism is both an ethical and practical issue. ⋯ Paternalism, characterized as the antithesis of autonomy, is widely dismissed as having any role in medicine. We disagree and believe that paternalism still has an important role in medical decision making.