Choice in palliative care: Why more is still more

摘要

Modern living is beset by choice; some of us can spend days deciding on a career choice, hours searching the internet reviews of a product we wish to buy, and many minutes even deliberating over which bread to purchase. In his 2005 book The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less, the American psychologist Barry Schwartz argued that reducing consumer choices can lessen anxiety for customers, which seems somewhat paradoxical when the market economies of the world strive to offer us ever more choice in any and every aspect of our lives. Nevertheless, while the constant demands of decision-making in both the routine and prosaic shopping choices and the more profound and complex judgments in our lives might be a source of unceasing unnecessary tension, choice is rightly the watchword for modern health care.