SESSION DESCRIPTION
This session introduces maternalism as a clinician-guided decision-making framework grounded in relational autonomy and informed non-dissent. Through three clinical cases, the presenter will demonstrate how palliative care teams can support patients and families through life and death decisions when the act of choosing itself becomes a source of suffering, while attending to power and equity with a relational frame.
OBJECTIVES
- Distinguish maternalism from paternalism by articulating how relational autonomy reframes clinician involvement as supporting rather than overriding patient autonomy.
- Apply the sequential elements of informed non-dissent, including relational assessment, medical update, clinician-guided plan, and space for dissent, to a clinical case involving conflicting patient values.
- Identify at least two safeguards necessary to prevent maternalism from becoming paternalism, including trauma-informed monitoring for implicit distress and equitable investment in relational engagement across patient populations.
FACULTY
Chris Onderdonk, MSW, LCSW, APHSW-C
Palliative Care Social Worker
UC San Diego Health, Doris A. Howell Palliative Care Teams
Kyle P. Edmonds, MD, FAAHPM
Professor, Department of Medicine, UC San Diego School of Medicine