Nice UCSD article but disagree with use of "paternalism." Honest un-coerced patient guidance is not paternalism.

J Palliat Med. 2014 Mar 3. [Epub ahead of print]

When Open-Ended Questions Don't Work: The Role of Palliative Paternalism in Difficult Medical Decisions.

Roeland E1, Cain J, Onderdonk C, Kerr K, Mitchell W, Thornberry K.

Author information

• 11 Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego , California.

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. Autonomy is the current gold standard approach to patient communication and has grown to the point that patient preference dictates care, even when their choices are not possible or are medically nonbeneficial. Furthermore, we have observed a trend among physicians to avoid making difficult medical decisions by hiding behind a shield of patient autonomy. 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.