Ethical DilemmasAs the population ages, clinicians will care for an increasing number of elderly patients. Just as these patients may present unique and difficult medical dilemmas, they may also present ethical dilemmas. Ethical dilemmas are present in daily practice. It provides a brief overview of situations that may raise ethical concerns. Although these are not the only ethical concerns that may arise when caring for older adults and are not population-specific, they represent the most common scenarios that clinicians may encounter in their daily practice. Ethics, according to (Mueller, Hook & Fleming, 2004), is the analysis and identification of moral issues that arise in the care of patients. Ethical Issues in Geriatrics: A Guide for Clinicians (2004) reports that clinicians will care for an increasing number of older patients with difficult medical problems. Ethical principles are judgments that serve as the basic justification for the ethical evaluation of one's action. These are the points of view from which advice can be obtained throughout the process leading to a decision. According to the Journal of the American Nurse Association, ethical principles are the general goals that each theory attempts to achieve in order to be successful. The widely accepted prima facie ethical principles are: Autonomy, duty to respect one's rights. Charity, the desire to do good. Nonmaleficence refers to the avoidance of harm or injury. Justice, the duty to treat someone fairly. (Beauchamp, 2004). While some of the ethical dilemmas include: ensuring informed consent, determining decision-making capacity, promoting advance care planning, surrogate decision-making, withdrawal and retention...... middle of the article......clinical trial comparing two of the treatments is underway and a doctor has an opinion on which treatment is best. This obligation creates an obstacle to the recruitment of patients in randomized clinical trials. Advance Care Planning Advance care planning allows a patient to identify their health care preferences and make an alternative decision in the event the patient cannot make a competent health care decision. It promotes the autonomy of patients who do not have the capacity to make decisions, but who already have it. In general, there are two forms of announcements: the living will and the durable power of attorney. However, most people, including the elderly, do not have ads. A study of a random sample of all deaths in the United States (N = 13,883) found that only 9.8% of those who died had AD. However, patients with AD were less likely to undergo cardiopulmonary resuscitation and more likely to use palliative care...