Who should make the decision regarding whether to proceed with the emergency craniotomy for your patient? Why? What standard of surrogate decision-making should be used in this case. Why?

CASE STUDY

Prompt: The patient in the case study from the informed consent dialogue attached below loses decision-making capacity and is no longer able to participate in making care decisions for themself.

Unrelated to the medical condition in the dialogue, the patient develops a severe headache and confusion. Their condition proceeds rather quickly to a loss of consciousness and they are rushed to an emergency room in New York State. In the emergency department, a CT scan reveals a hemorrhagic stroke. The neurology team recommends an emergency craniotomy to stop the bleeding and relieve the pressure in the brain.

In this essay of minimum 1,000 words and maximum 1200 words in MLA format you are asked to address three questions:

1. Who should make the decision regarding whether to proceed with the emergency craniotomy for your patient? Why?
2. What standard of surrogate decision-making should be used in this case. Why?
3. What should the decision be? Why?