Podcast: Decision Making Part 2

Welcome back to the difficult decision making series of podcasts.

In this second set of podcasts James Sira, a consultant in intensive care medicine, talks to Dominic Bell about how to approach decisions around admission to critical care using a framework based on a clearer understanding of futility.

Dominic has been a consultant in Intensive Care Medicine for more than twenty years. He has a degree in medical law and has been an expert witness for the Court of Protection on end of life decision making, and for the GMC on fitness to practice investigations. He has also worked as an assistant coroner and has been an expert witness for the police.

In this podcast, Dominic speaks with honesty and conviction about the professional vulnerability we are under when faced with making decisions about the provision or withholding of intensive medical therapies. James and Dominic also introduce the concept of futility as a framework for decision making.

Dominic then continues the conversation by explaining how the courts can become involved in decision making and conflict, and what the implications of such legal involvement might be.