FAMILY FOCUSED ETHICS

It is my intent to explore the family, parent, patient, social work re lationships as a focus central to the solution of ethical dilemmas, In today's environment, patient selection continues to reflect persisten t patterns of biased allocation of services, The ability of a family t o make a decision about medical treatment begins with an understanding of how choices regarding that treatment are shared, Without taking ap propriate precautions, an increased risk arises of providing surgical procedures involving real medical risk, yet unresolved psychological t rauma remains unassessed, The unrelenting questions of, When?, How?, a nd Why?, a family should be involved in the process of ethical decisio n-making, begs the inherent prejudice involved.