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While discussing the processes of decision-making, this article analyzes the effects of the introduction of elements that are not usually given sufficient consideration: the context within which the decision-making takes place, and the role and function of a consultant. Studying decision-making as a cognitive process, whose rules can be defined and whose errors can be denounced, gives rise to the risk of overlooking the complexity deriving from the multiplicity of subjective variables involved. The other element of complexity is due to the presence of a consultant who can give information to the decision-maker: what is the value of information? What is the consultant’s role? The analysis of the patient/carer relationship provides a context within which to explore the two elements in question: the context of health, with its inevitable accompanying anxieties linked to life and death, and the position of the medical consultant.