Ethical dilemmas in elderly cancer patients: a perspective from the ethics of care

In this article the authors have introduced specific characteristics of the increasingly large group of elderly cancer patients. They have argued that in order to provide good care we should extend our ethical awareness from issues of decision-making to a broader perspective focusing on the care relationship as developed by ethics of care principles. Cases like Mr. Michelson’s and Mrs Johnson’s show to what extent contemporary medicine is inclined to pursue its own goals of trying to do well, however taking the care receiver’s perspective into account too little. An ethics of care approach may help to be more attentive and responsive to the patient’s perspective. In the case of elderly cancer patients, being attentive and responsive to the patient’s perspective seems to be a major precondition for delivering good quality care attuned to the need, perspective, and vulnerable position of patients.