Care, Compassion, or Cost: Redefining the Basis of Treatment in Ethics and Law

Abstract

Early announcements of this special journal issue solicited authors interested in contributing articles on the subject of “costs at the end of life.” Those who replied were then informed the title was being changed, on the basis of early subscriber interest (or, perhaps disinterest), in “rational end-of-life treatment.” Because that seemed a still inadequate reflection of the authorial concerns of responding potential contributors, the editors again changed the title, two months later, to “Making Treatments More Rational and Compassionate for the Chronically Critically Ill.” At that point the editors gave up and decided this issue’s final title would be determined only after the papers were submitted and reviewed.