PHIL 223 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Lifesaving
Document Summary
Conflict between a healthcare professional"s duties and a patient"s rights usually occurs: Between professional"s duty of beneficence and patient"s right to autonomy. Autonomy: is the capacity for self-governance, to make choices that are truly our own. Beneficence: is when professionals make decisions for patients that are in a patient"s best interest. This is usually because the patient is not able to make their own decisions, legally. Futile treatment: is a treatment that is not providing any benefits for the patient receiving it. Informed consent: ensures that the autonomy principle is followed; respecting autonomy means fully informing a patient in order to get their full, informed consent. A competent patient has the right to refuse treatment, even if it is a life-saving treatment. Argues that it is sometimes ok for the state to make decisions for people, so long those decisions guarantee a wider range of freedoms for that person.
