No specialty faces more diverse and challenging ethical dilemmas than palliative medicine. What is the best way to plan ahead for the end of life? How should physicians respond when patients refuse treatments likely to be beneficial, or demand treatments not likely to be? Who makes medical decisions for patients who are too ill to decide for themselves? Do patients have the "right to die" (and, if so, what exactly does that mean)? In this volume noted palliative care physician and bioethicist Robert C. Macauley addresses a broad range of issues from historical, legal, clinical, and ethical perspectives. Clinically nuanced and philosophically rigorous, Ethics in Palliative Care analyzes hot-button subjects like physician assisted dying and euthanasia, as well as often overlooked topics such as pediatric palliative care, organ donation, palliative care research, and moral distress. Drawing on real cases yet written in non-technical language, this complete guide will appeal to both medical professionals and lay readers.

is the Cambia Health Foundation Endowed Professor of Palliative Care at Oregon Health and Science University. He taught at the University of Vermont College of Medicine for fifteen years, where he directed the Department of Clinical Ethics as well as the Pediatric Advanced Care Team.

Preface Section I: Overview and introduction Chapter 1: Ethics and palliative care Chapter 2: Overview of ethical approaches Section II: Ethical issues in determining the plan of care Chapter 3: Advance care planning and surrogate decision making Chapter 4: Specific ethical issues at the end of life Section III: Death and dying Chapter 5: The "right to die" Chapter 6: Forgoing life-sustaining medical treatment Chapter 7: Pain and symptom management at the end of life Chapter 8: Physician Assisted Dying Chapter 9: Palliative sedation Section IV: Pediatric ethics and palliative care Chapter 10: Overview of pediatric ethics and palliative care Chapter 11: Ethics of prenatal palliative care Chapter 12: Ethics of neonatal palliative care Chapter 13: Ethics of child and adolescent palliative care Section V: Other topics Chapter 14: Requests for non-beneficial treatment Chapter 15: Neuro-palliative care Chapter 16: Death and organ donation Chapter 17: Research in palliative care Chapter 18: Clinical practice of palliative care Chapter 19: Final thoughts Frequently used abbreviations Glossary