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If the disease is severe enough to justify an untested treatment with unknown toxicity they aren't aware enough to grant consent.


True.

But they could give consent in advance.

If this horrific disease progresses to the point where ... I give my consent for ... Subject to final approval from family member/doctor/whatever.


> But they could give consent in advance.

There is plenty of data that shows that people are bad judges of their future opinions. “If X happened to me, I wouldn’t want to live anymore” often turns out to not be true.

That makes it questionably whether consent years or even months ago implies consent now.

And yes, that is very problematic in cases such as Alzheimer’s where people cannot consent now.


Isn't that what power of attorney already is?


Power of attorney isn't unlimited

These are untested treatments with unknown impacts. Consider playing Russian roulette with the patient. The risk isn't the same but the outcomes have the same range. From nothing to death.


Most dementia patients have good days and bad. If they consent one day, then don’t the next, what do you do?


>they aren't aware enough to grant consent

That's not really an obstacle, people in those situations have family members consent for all sorts of treatment already.




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