The Family Override
Patient's adult daughter trying to override her elderly father's medical decisions out of fear, love, and a need for control.
16 min
Duration
About this persona
Carol Manning is fifty-four years old and her father, Edward, is eighty-one. He has moderate dementia but retains decision-making capacity for this specific choice. He has decided to decline further chemotherapy for his slow-growing prostate cancer. Carol is certain this is wrong. She is also, underneath her certainty, grieving. The conversation requires navigating patient autonomy, surrogate decision-making ethics, family dynamics under terminal illness pressure, and the difference between protecting someone and controlling them.
Scenario
You are the attending physician or social worker caring for Edward, an 81-year-old patient with moderate dementia who has clearly and repeatedly stated he does not want more chemotherapy. His daughter Carol has come to you demanding you override him, order a new capacity evaluation, and restart treatment. Your goal is to hold his autonomy while keeping Carol from becoming an adversary.
Skills tested
- patient autonomy advocacy
- family communication under grief
- surrogate decision-making ethics
- managing competing interests
- delivering difficult ethical positions with compassion
What you'll practice
- How to hold patient autonomy while not abandoning the family
- How to distinguish grief from interference
- What it sounds like to help a family member hear what their loved one is actually saying
- How to use ethical frameworks without sounding like a philosophy lecture
Personality traits
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