Agency Is Messy: Get Used to It

摘要

The truth often lies between extremes. Strawberry ice cream-best or worst flavor ever? Probably somewhere in the middle. Vladimir Putin-pure evil or complete angel? Again, the truth is somewhere in between (but not, IMHO, anywhere close to the middle). Physician duties-solely to individual patients in their care or only to society more broadly? Once again, I'd vote for somewhere between these two extremes. It is pretty apparent to me, in fact, that clinicians need to find the appropriate balance of these competing extremes, with the help of guiding principles, on a case-by-case basis.