Oct 2026· Medicine, Law & Society· Vol 19, pp. 377-398· 0 citations· 41 references
TL;DR
It is argued that vulnerability should not serve as a justification for paternalism or uncontrolled coercion and going beyond consent does not mean abandoning autonomy, it means reconceptualizing it in a way that ensures self-determination and protection for those most vulnerable in health care systems.
Abstract
Modern healthcare is built on the principle of informed consent which is the basis of patient autonomy and self-determination. However, this model has its very clear limits when applied to high-risk and vulnerable patients whose decision-making capacity is impaired. This study examines what lies behind consent in healthcare and asks how legal systems can protect high-risk patients without undermining their dignity, agency and human rights. The analysis adopts a comparative legal approach. It relies on international instruments and national examples from diverse legal traditions. The article argues that vulnerability should not serve as a justification for paternalism or uncontrolled coercion. Going beyond consent does not mean abandoning autonomy, it means reconceptualizing it in a way that ensures self-determination and protection for those most vulnerable in health care systems.
This review examines the legal validity of consent to healthcare services given by older patients, with particular emphasis on cognitive impairment, the patient's actual capacity to make healthcare decisions, and the protection of patient autonomy in the decision-making process. The study is based on a narrative litera...
Damian Mikulski, P. Wróblewski, Ireneusz Skawina· Medycyna Pracy· 0 citations
The results show that Brazilian case law, notably in general repercussion Themes 952 and 1069 of the Supreme Federal Court, consolidated the right to therapeutic refusal grounded in religious conviction, even in life-threatening situations, while the infra-legal discipline of the Federal Council of Medicine remains cha...
Carlabianca Cabral de Jesus Canevari, Joyce Lara de Lima Mendes, Izabela Castro e Silva et al.· Revista de Estudos Interdisc...· 0 citations
It is suggested that ethically sound end-of-life care requires flexible, patient-centered communication, institutional support for culturally informed decision-making, and policies that recognize ethical pluralism.
Anne Takemoto· American Journal of Student...· 0 citations
Medical social work operates at the critical intersection of life and death, treatment and abandonment within healthcare settings. Practitioners frequently encounter ethical tensions between the right to life and client self-determination. The right to life emphasizes the absolute protection of individual existence, wh...
Sheng-Lian Liu· Education and Humanities Pro...· 0 citations
Abstract This commentary highlights additional considerations for clinicians encountering substitute decision-makers who want to make different decisions than the healthcare or ethics team thinks an incapacitated patient would have made. This commentary first focuses on how evolving understandings of decision-making ca...
Megan S. Wright· Journal of Law, Medicine & E...· 0 citations
It is suggested that the greatest threat to fairness and transparency when it comes to AI may not be people deliberately trying to cause harm, but rather a widespread culture of apathy and complacency that prevents people from taking action.
Marta Szabat· Bioethics· 0 citations
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