Philosophy 2715F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Lifesaving, Consistency

• School: Western University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: Philosophy 2715F/G
• Professor: C. Weijer

Document Summary

Respect owed to autonomous moral agents in the health care setting: right to self-determination, doctrine of informed consent is based on this. Individuals tend to be the best judges of their own good: not disconnected from self-determination, physicians are medical experts, patients are experts on their own subjective aims and values. Incompetent persons are entitled to protection from the consequences of potentially bad choices: the(cid:455) should(cid:374)"t ha(cid:448)e the authorit(cid:455) o(cid:448)er their o(cid:449)(cid:374) de(cid:272)isio(cid:374)s at this poi(cid:374)t, promoting self-determination, people generally value making important decisions themselves. Independent of whether they are the best person to be making the choice. If (cid:455)ou sa(cid:455) (cid:455)es, the(cid:374) it"s fi(cid:374)e (cid:271)ut if (cid:455)ou sa(cid:455) (cid:374)o, the(cid:374) (cid:449)e are goi(cid:374)g to (cid:271)ri(cid:374)g i(cid:374) a surrogate decision-maker: undermines self-determination. I(cid:374)for(cid:373)atio(cid:374) (cid:862)(cid:374)e(cid:272)essar(cid:455) to (cid:373)ake (cid:373)ea(cid:374)i(cid:374)gful the po(cid:449)er to de(cid:272)ide(cid:863) An irrational decision taken by an icu patient may be catastrophic: 2.