Deferring to expertise whilst maintaining autonomy
This paper will consider the extent to which patients' dependence on clinical expertise when making medical decisions threatens patient autonomy. I start by discussing whether or not dependence on experts is prima facie troubling for autonomy and suggest that it is not. I then go on to consider...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Idioma: | English |
| Publicat: |
Cambridge University Press
2024
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| _version_ | 1826313192380301312 |
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| author | Brown, RCH |
| author_facet | Brown, RCH |
| author_sort | Brown, RCH |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | This paper will consider the extent to which patients' dependence on clinical expertise when making medical decisions threatens patient autonomy. I start by discussing whether or not dependence on experts is prima facie troubling for autonomy and suggest that it is not. I then go on to consider doctors' and other healthcare professionals' status as ‘medical experts’ of the relevant sort and highlight a number of ways in which their expertise is likely to be deficient. I then consider how this revised picture of medical expertise should lead us to view the potential threat to patient autonomy that results from depending on such ‘experts’. I argue that, whether or not patients are aware of the limitations of medical expertise, in practice it is difficult to do other than defer to medical advice, and this presents a threat to patient autonomy that should be addressed. I conclude by suggesting some ways in which this threat to autonomy might be mitigated. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:12:58Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:a6d9bdd9-87d4-4e9c-8c3e-dc1f4eec7098 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:09:16Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:a6d9bdd9-87d4-4e9c-8c3e-dc1f4eec70982024-06-11T10:15:28ZDeferring to expertise whilst maintaining autonomyJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:a6d9bdd9-87d4-4e9c-8c3e-dc1f4eec7098EnglishSymplectic ElementsCambridge University Press2024Brown, RCHThis paper will consider the extent to which patients' dependence on clinical expertise when making medical decisions threatens patient autonomy. I start by discussing whether or not dependence on experts is prima facie troubling for autonomy and suggest that it is not. I then go on to consider doctors' and other healthcare professionals' status as ‘medical experts’ of the relevant sort and highlight a number of ways in which their expertise is likely to be deficient. I then consider how this revised picture of medical expertise should lead us to view the potential threat to patient autonomy that results from depending on such ‘experts’. I argue that, whether or not patients are aware of the limitations of medical expertise, in practice it is difficult to do other than defer to medical advice, and this presents a threat to patient autonomy that should be addressed. I conclude by suggesting some ways in which this threat to autonomy might be mitigated. |
| spellingShingle | Brown, RCH Deferring to expertise whilst maintaining autonomy |
| title | Deferring to expertise whilst maintaining autonomy |
| title_full | Deferring to expertise whilst maintaining autonomy |
| title_fullStr | Deferring to expertise whilst maintaining autonomy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Deferring to expertise whilst maintaining autonomy |
| title_short | Deferring to expertise whilst maintaining autonomy |
| title_sort | deferring to expertise whilst maintaining autonomy |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT brownrch deferringtoexpertisewhilstmaintainingautonomy |