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Obligation, Informed Consent, and Health-Care Reforms in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2024

Jia Liu Open the ORCID record for Jia Liu [Opens in a new window]
Jia Liu*
Affiliation:
Institute of Public Policy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
*
Email: liujia@scut.edu.cn
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Abstract

Drawing on recent jurisprudential literature that emphasizes the role and function performed by obligation, this article examines how the ethical doctrine of informed consent has been implemented in the context of health-care reforms in China. It argues that, while the Chinese incorporation of informed consent has sought to empower patients, the major medical laws and social policies fail to instantiate the obligations. Along with this failure, the Chinese medical laws have also failed to secure the bond of trust between them. This article also points out that a rounded analysis of the implementation of informed consent in China must take into account the obligation and function of the major components of the health-care delivery system other than physicians and hospitals, such as health-care insurance schemes.

Keywords

obligationinformed consentmedical lawhealth-care reformChina
Type
Research Article
Information
Asian Journal of Law and Society , First View , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Asian Journal of Law and Society

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