Abstract
Interesting ethical quandaries challenge health professionals who staff hospices, nursing homes and hospitals, as well as their patients and family members confronting death and dying (Anspach 1993; Buchanan and Brock 1990; Pike 1991; Reiser 1986). In recent years, physicians responsible for complex cases not limited to strictly medical decisions have consulted with a staff clinical ethicist or Institutional Ethics Committee (Hammes and Bendiksen 1990; Jaffe 1989; Jonsen, Siegler and Winslade 1992). Developments in care for the dying should be understood in the institutional context of health-care practice, bioethic protocols and government policy. Several larger themes or issues shape the decision-making of physicians as they and others provide care for dying patients and their families (Selznick 1992; Veatch 1989; Waitzkin 1991; Weisz 1990).
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© 1997 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Bendiksen, R. (1997). Death, Dying and Bioethics: Current Issues in the USA. In: Charmaz, K., Howarth, G., Kellehear, A. (eds) The Unknown Country: Death in Australia, Britain and the USA. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25593-1_15
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