¶ … consent embodies the idea that as a matter of ethics and law patients are entitled to be exposed to all of the relevant information that would influence and guide their decision making concerning what treatment that they should follow. However, should clinicians provide medical information to terminally ill patients when they suspect that such information could potentially be used to facilitate their suicide? The issues surrounding full disclosure, beneficence, and therapeutic privilege as they relate to patients and their families are discussed and recommendations regarding how such cases should be conceptualized are discussed. Should clinicians provide medical information to terminally ill patients when they know or suspect that such information will be used to facilitate their suicide? This dilemma affects patients, their families, physicians, other medical professionals. The notion of "informed consent" as a guiding principle in medicine is at the center of modern professional medical ethics. Informed consent embodies the idea that as a matter of proper ethics and law patients are entitled to be exposed to all of the relevant information that would influence and guide their decision making concerning what treatment, if any, they should follow. If a patient does not have the capacity to make medical decisions themselves then a substitute decision-maker (previously assigned by the patient or by the court) should be provided with such information. Even though the ideals of full disclosure and informed consent are often referred as fundamental directives in many other professional fields, the notions of full disclosure and informed consent evolved within the context of American medicine. These directives have traditionally been emphasized as the result of a moral concern with the basic human and...
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now