Measuring quality of life: quality of life is experienced and not 'measured' I think
I felt an urge to respond, based solely on the title of the article. I have only been able to read the first couple of lines of the piece, so the author might make this point inside his article: I believe that quality of life is very much a thing experienced by the person living the life - and 'trying to measure quality of life' is a dangerous path to set out on.
This 'issue or question' crops up a lot during end-of-life, in connection with consideration of section-4 of the Mental Capacity Act. Section 4 of the MCA, and its requirements for best-interests decision-making, is so conceptually complex, that I invariably suggest 'try to get the decisions from the mentally-capable patient, while you can still do that, and thereby avoid making best-interests decisions'' as the most satisfactory approach, whenever that is possible.
Rapid Response:
Measuring quality of life: quality of life is experienced and not 'measured' I think
I felt an urge to respond, based solely on the title of the article. I have only been able to read the first couple of lines of the piece, so the author might make this point inside his article: I believe that quality of life is very much a thing experienced by the person living the life - and 'trying to measure quality of life' is a dangerous path to set out on.
This 'issue or question' crops up a lot during end-of-life, in connection with consideration of section-4 of the Mental Capacity Act. Section 4 of the MCA, and its requirements for best-interests decision-making, is so conceptually complex, that I invariably suggest 'try to get the decisions from the mentally-capable patient, while you can still do that, and thereby avoid making best-interests decisions'' as the most satisfactory approach, whenever that is possible.
Competing interests: No competing interests