ABSTRACT
Patients do not often disagree with the clinician who is treating them. When a patient is refusing life-saving treatment, a nurse or doctor may question whether the person has capacity to make this decision; deducing that a refusal of life-saving treatment may denote an inability to understand, retain and weigh the relevant information. C's adult life was characterised by impulsive and self-centred decision-making without guilt or regret; living her life entirely and unapologetically on her own terms. That life revolved largely around her looks, men, material possessions and living the ''high life''. The right to choose is not dependent upon the patient's reason for making the choice being rational, or sensible, or even known. It is an uncomfortable thought that C rejected life despite the knowledge that some weeks of dialysis would enable her restoration to a quality of life enjoyed by countless survivors of an acute kidney injury.
