The influence of the family in conceptions of personhood in the palliative care setting in Singapore and its influence upon decision making.

Conceptions of personhood are critical to the preservation of dignity and quality of life key to a good death and pivotal to the provision of patient centred care. Increasingly there is speculation that this role may be wider still. It has been posited that it is Confucian inspired conceptions of personhood replete with its `dualistic' view of personhood that sees family members as part of the individual's personhood that predispose to the prevailing practices of collusion and the trumping of patient autonomy.