Dr. Tony Holohan:

I would place this in the more general context of professional practice, irrespective of who the professionals are. What we as a society expect of professionals is that the way in which they inform and support people in making decisions is to give them the necessary information to help them make those decisions. This is very much in conjunction with the person in any clinical sense. I am not talking about the particular situation outlined by the Senator, I am talking about any context. The days of the paternalistic practice of medicine and health care, when doctors, nurses or anybody else made decisions for people, are at an end as far as we are concerned. The expectation, particularly in professions like medicine where these ethical codes exist, makes it clear that the role of practitioners is to support people in making decisions and to give them the information as necessary to make those decisions. This applies to every clinical situation and not just to the one the Senator is talking about.