The anatomy and physiology of ethical decision making in oncology

The author poses a five-step normative decision-making model to help health care professionals arrive at sound ethical judgments. It also examines the process of decision making as it applies to a representative case in clinical oncology. Psychological factors that complicate, and at times confound ethical decision making also are explored. Finally, a point-counterpoint method is presented to help identify psychological and personal values that can obstruct ethical decision making.