Deferring to Expertise whilst Maintaining Autonomy

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12881667
AutoresRebecca C H Brown (0000-0001-8023-1092, University of Oxford, autor de correspondencia)
Año2024
Volumen22
Número2
Páginas472-491
Fecha de publicación2024-02-15
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEPISTÉMÈ (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1976-9660 • E-ISSN: 1750-0117
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/epi.2024.3
OpenAlexW4391841106
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas52

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

Autonomy · Business · Political science · Ethics in Clinical Research · Ethics in medical practice · Law · Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare · Psychology

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