Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 50, Issue 4 , Pages 456-461 , October 2007

Refusal of Care: The Physician-Patient Relationship and Decisionmaking Capacity

  • Jeremy R. Simon, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress for correspondence: Jeremy R. Simon, MD, PhD, Center for Bioethics and Emergency Department, Columbia University Medical Center, 630 W 168th St, #3-470, New York, NY 10032; 212-342-1295, fax 212-342-0451

Received 1 November 2006 ,Revised 12 April 2007 ,Accepted 20 April 2007.

References 

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  2. Brock DW, Wartman SA. When competent patients make irrational choices. N Engl J Med. 1990;322:1595–1599
  3. Grisso T, Appelbaum PS. Assessing Competence to Consent to Treatment: A Guide for Physicians and Other Health Professionals. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 1998;
  4. President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research. Making Health Care Decisions, Vol. 1, Report. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office; 1982;
  5. Wear S. Informed Consent: Patient Autonomy and Clinical Beneficence within Health Care. 2nd ed.. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press; 1998;
  6. Wicclair MR. Patient decision-making capacity and risk. Bioethics. 1991;5:91–104
  7. Roth LH, Meisel A, Lidz CA. Tests of competency to consent to treatment. Am J Psychiatry. 1977;134:279–284
  8. Drane JF. Competency to give an informed consent. JAMA. 1984;252:925–927
  9. Holyrod B, Shalit M, Kallsen G, et al. Prehospital patients refusing care. Ann Emerg Med. 1988;17:957–963
  10. Brock DW. Informed participation in decisions. In:  Iserson KV,  Sanders AB,  Mathieu D editor. Ethics in Emergency Medicine. 2nd ed.. Tucson, AZ: Galen Press; 1995;
  11. In the Matter of Westchester County Medical Center, on Behalf of Mary O’Connor, Appellant. Helen A. Hall et al, Respondents Court of Appeals of New York. 72 N.Y.2d 517; 534 N.Y.S.2d 886; 531 N.E.2d 607. Decided 14 October 1988 as amended 11 April 1989.
  12. Borak J, Veilleux S. Informed consent in emergency settings. Ann Emerg Med. 1984;13:731–735
  13. Simon JR, Dwyer J, Goldfrank LR. The difficult patient. Emerg Med Clin North Am. 1999;17:353–370
  14. Harrison DW, Vissers RJ. The difficult patient. In:  Marx JA,  Hochberg RS,  Walls RM, et al. editor. Rosen’s Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Mosby; 2006;

 Funding and support: By Annals policy, all authors are required to disclose any and all commercial, financial, and other relationships in any way related to the subject of this article, that might create any potential conflict of interest. The author has stated that no such relationships exist. See the Manuscript Submission Agreement in this issue for examples of specific conflicts covered by this statement.Supervising editors: Robert Silbergleit, MD; Robert K. Knopp, MDReprints not available from the author.

PII: S0196-0644(07)00543-4

doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2007.04.016

Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 50, Issue 4 , Pages 456-461 , October 2007

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