Evaluating patient capacity is a common issue in clinical medical ethics. How do we dow what's best for patients and respect their autonomy while ensuring they are indeed able to make their own medical decisions. 

This situations often occur acutely with little time to deliberate. Prepare in advance by listening to this podcast and determining a course of action. 

1. Have a conversation to evaluate the capacity and understanding.
2. Understand a patient's overall wishes with regards to their health and lifestyle.
3. Use a "sliding scale" approach where complex, high-risk decisions require a higher level of "capacity" as opposed to lower-risk les significant decisions. 
4. Determine if mental statuse changes are acute or chronic, reversible or irreversible. 

Welcome to Curbside Ethics. So happy you tuned in. Please share with your fellow clinicians and leave a rating or comment on iTunes. Visit www.StevenBradleyMD.com to request a personali zed ethics consultation from our host.

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