This book is the most comprehensive treatment available of one of the most urgent problems in bioethics: decision-making for incompetents.

Preface; Introduction; Part I. Theory: 1. Competence and incompetence; 2. The primary ethical framework: patient-centered principles; 3. Advance directives, personhood, and personal identity; 4. Distributive justice and the incompetent; Part II. Application: 5. Minors; 6. The elderly; 7. The mentally ill; Looking forward; Appendix 1: living trust and nomination of conservatorship; Appendix 2: durable power of attorney for health care; Notes; Index.