Ethical aspects of geriatric patients’ rights to refuse treatment and to receive limited medical resources

Two of the most formidable bioethical challenges over the next decades relate to disabilities and aging: Elders’ exercise of autonomy and the just allocation of resources to older patients. Prolonging life is being questioned increasingly if it is accompanied by loss of dignity. When should older patients be permitted to refuse treatment and what is the physician’s role in this process? How can one insure that incompetent elderly patients are treated with dignity? Who or what determines the amount of resources allocated to geriatric patients? Several principles are offered for developing principles for the treatment of elders.