“Terminal Anorexia”, Treatment Refusal and Decision-Making Capacity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21598214 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ann Jefferson (0000-0002-1870-1361, Cardiff University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 558-569 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0963-1801 • E-ISSN: 1469-2147 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0963180124000367 |
| PMID | 39463268 |
| OpenAlex | W4403845390 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 29 |
Whether anorexic patients should be able to refuse treatment when this refusal potentially has a fatal outcome is a vexed topic. A recent proposal for a new category of “terminal anorexia” suggests criteria when a move to palliative care or even physician-assisted suicide might be justified. The author argues that this proposed diagnosis presents a false sense of certainty of the illness trajectory by conceptualizing anorexia in analogy with physical disorders and stressing the effects of starvation. Furthermore, this conceptualization is in conflict with the claim that individuals who meet the diagnostic criteria for terminal anorexia have decision-making capacity. It should therefore be rejected
Analogy · Anorexia · Anorexia nervosa · Certainty · Conceptualization · Eating disorders · Epistemology · Palliative care · Psychiatry · Psychotherapist · Terminal care · Computer Science · Diet and metabolism studies · Medicine · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Nursing · Psychology · Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments · Social Psychology
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |