Reference no: EM133230698

Assignment - Health & Medical Autonomy Discussion

Autonomy is an individual's decision or right to make decisions for themselves without coercing, influence or external factors. Autonomy is something that should be taken into consideration when its relates to someone's health, self will, and self governance for medical decision making.

Consider two things -

Firstly, to be an autonomous patient, an individual must be competent and able to explore all options to make medical decisions.

Secondly, if a patient has a reason that would impair their judgement and medical decision making is difficult, than a healthcare provider is obligated to treat that patient with dignity and not deeming a patient incapable of making decisions if that patient does not agree with the care plan. The patients care should be facilitated within the healthcare team and patient dignity should always come first.

Questions -

Q1. How much control should a patient have over there choices for treatment and care?

Q2. Why do you think some patients do not want control over their decisions?

Q3. Are there barriers that would not allow patients to be able to make decisions for themselves?

Textbook - Fourth Edition - Ethics in Health Administration: A Practical Approach for Decision Makers by Eileen E. Morrison.