PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - J Savulescu
TI  - Should doctors intentionally do less than the best?
AID  - 10.1136/jme.25.2.121
DP  - 1999 Apr 01
TA  - Journal of Medical Ethics
PG  - 121--126
VI  - 25
IP  - 2
4099  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/25/2/121.short
4100  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/25/2/121.full
SO  - J Med Ethics1999 Apr 01; 25
AB  - The papers of Burley and Harris, and Draper and Chadwick, in this issue, raise a problem: what should doctors do when patients request an option which is not the best available? This commentary argues that doctors have a duty to offer that option which will result in the individual affected by that choice enjoying the highest level of wellbeing. Doctors can deviate from this duty and submaximise--bring about an outcome that is less than the best--only if there are good reasons to do so. The desire to have a child which is genetically related provides little, if any, reason to submaximise. The implication for cloning, preimplantation diagnosis and embryo transfer is that doctors should only produce a clone or transfer embryos expected to enjoy a level of wellbeing which is less than that enjoyed by other children the couple could have, if there is a good reason to employ that technology. This paper sketches what might constitute a good reason to submaximise.