Autonomy Informed Consent

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Part 1: Describing the Main Topic of Chapter 2 “Principles of Autonomy and Informed Consent”
The main topic of Chapter 2 “Principles of Autonomy and Informed Consent” is informed consent and the ethical issues behind it. In this chapter it discusses that individuals have autonomy meaning that they can choose and act or not act, this is the sense of them having free will. Free will is what allows individuals to be responsible for their actions and allow them to govern and live their life as they desire. But, the ethical issue arises pertaining to informed consent, which is a crucial concept in medical practice. Informed consent is the permission granted by the patient to allow a procedure to be done but, the patient must first have knowledge …show more content…

It introduces the topic by stating that having respect for an individual includes allowing them to make their own choices and life plans. Autonomy is the word used to describe that individuals have their own choices, they can choose to act or not act. With autonomy comes free will; free will is what allows individuals to be held accountable for their actions. But, in situations where an individual is restrained, under psychological manipulation, or incompetent they don’t have free will and therefore shouldn’t be accountable for their actions. In situations where a patient is incompetent (relating to health care) a proper surrogate makes decisions for that …show more content…

The patient preference rule dictates that the health care professional tells the patient what the patient wants to know. The professional custom rule states that the health care professional shall tell the patient what is normally told to patients in similar situations. This rule may be labeled incorrect, according to Ballie, McGeehan, Garrett, and Garrett (2013) there is “no such thing as a professional standard” (pg.38). In prudent person rule, the physician’s disclosure to the patient should be measured by the patient’s need for information to decide whether to refuse or accept treatment. In the subjective substantial disclosure rule the health care professional describes all information to the patient. Today a combination of the prudent person and substantial disclosure rules is mostly used. Together they assure that the patient will have the information needed to make a decision.
In this chapter, paternalism is described as acting without consent or even overriding a person’s wishes to prevent harm to the patient. Another term described in this chapter is the therapeutic privilege. Therapeutic privilege is the privilege of withholding information from the patient if the physician believes that the disclosure will have an

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