Personal autonomy in the management of candidal prosthetic joint infection

Abstract

The principle of patient autonomy dominates the contemporary debate in medical ethics. Twenty-five years ago, most major medical decisions were left exclusively in the hands of physicians. Such decisions were usually made with beneficent intent but without open discussion, much less the full participation of the patient. Our case involves a patient's decision to treat an infection with Candida species, the most common fungi affecting humans in a broad spectrum of opportunistic infections, including bones and joints. Only four recent cases of delayed reimplantation arthroplasty for candidal prosthetic joint infection have been reported, and there are no reports, besides ours, of successful non-surgical resolution of candidal prosthetic joint arthritis. We report this case as a patient's choice with an excellent outcome. © Versita Sp. z o.o.