Patient’s best interests
Patient’s best interests
The patient’s best interests are difficult to quantify, and will differ according to the situation. The balance between medical paternalism and objective counseling is a difficult one. Physicians with personal, or religious biases that conflict with the providing of sound, humane and in some cases simple caring advice should abstain from getting involved in hunger strikes.
Physicians caring for resolute prisoners on terminal hunger strikes may be confronted with impossible dilemmas. Some prisoners may resolutely refuse any medical treatment – or even dialogue – in the pursuit of their objectives. A prisoner’s right to decide whether or not she or he wants medical intervention should be respected, with the caveat mentioned above (see medical paternalism). See Malta Declaration which stipulates that the physician – and not a non-medical authority – should have the final say in deciding what to do, with, and only with, the patient’s best interests in mind. This may mean allowing a hunger striker to die – or it may mean resuscitation if the physician truly believes the prisoner wanted to live.