Decisions regarding the risks involved in medical treatments must belong to patients and their physicians - after all, it is the patient's health and life which is at stake. But patients will not be equipped for this decision-making process if they cannot be given some idea as to the risks and benefits of treatment. Such risks are generally estimated by a consensus panel of specialist physicians using supporting medical literature. Unfortunately, this literature does not always provide a good estimate of risk, particularly in the case of rare occurrences. This book demonstrates statistical tec.
Contents
Title page; Preface; Acknowledgement; Contents; Introduction to Medical Risk; Post-Marketing Reporting of Adverse Events and Decisions Concerning Medications; Risk Versus Benefit in Medical Decision Making; The Problem of Competing Risks and Competing Perspectives in Decision Making; The Perception and Misperception of Risk in Decision Making; The Issue of Risk by Group Identity in Decision Making; The Issue of Extrapolation; The Issue of Futility in Decision Making; Costs and Risks; Discussion; Appendix on Methodology; Subject Index.