Decision-Making Capacity Threshold Simulator

This simulation explores one of the most consequential ethical dilemmas in healthcare: when does a patient's own choice get respected, and when does a clinical team step in? Rather than a vague overview of "medical ethics," it models one concrete, well-defined mechanism — the four-abilities capacity assessment (understanding, appreciation, reasoning, and expressing a choice) combined with the sliding-scale standard, under which the bar for capacity rises with the risk of the decision. Four capacity criteria render as colored pillars in 3D; a translucent threshold plane hovers at a height set by the chosen decision's risk; and a decision disk glows green when the patient's composite score clears the plane (autonomy respected) or red when it falls short (a surrogate decision-maker is triggered). Load one of four real clinical scenarios or build your own interview profile and watch the diverse, often conflicting, perspectives of autonomy and beneficence play out numerically.