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Conclusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2011

Mary Donnelly
Affiliation:
University College Cork
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Summary

This book has explored the difficult legal and normative questions to which healthcare decision-making gives rise. It has shown that, while the legal status of the autonomy principle appears to be well established and stable, in reality the position is doctrinally less clear and normatively more problematic than classic legal dicta might suggest. This concluding chapter revisits the arguments made in earlier chapters and identifies some of the implications of these arguments for the future development of the law in respect of healthcare decision-making. In doing this, it identifies some of the major themes which have emerged from the discussion throughout the book. Five such themes are explored. These are first, the view of autonomy as achievement or empowerment; secondly, the limitations of capacity as a gatekeeper for the right of autonomy; thirdly, the appropriate role for law in healthcare decision-making; fourthly, the possibilities and limitations of a human rights focus in healthcare decision-making; and, finally, the need for closer empirical interrogation of the law in practice.

Autonomy as empowerment

A recurrent theme throughout this book has been the limitations of the conception of autonomy as non-interference. This account of autonomy, which derives from Mill's liberal view of the individual operating within a sphere of freedom protected from state interference, has been highly influential in the development of healthcare law and ethics. However, this view of autonomy is flawed in a number of respects.

Type
Chapter
Information
Healthcare Decision-Making and the Law
Autonomy, Capacity and the Limits of Liberalism
, pp. 269 - 280
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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References

Woolf, V., ‘On Being Ill’ in D. Bradshaw (ed.) Virginia Woolf: Selected Essays (Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 101Google Scholar
Brazier, M., ‘Do No Harm – Do Patients Have Responsibilities Too?’ (2006) 65 Cambridge Law Journal 397, 401CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raz, J., The Morality of Freedom (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), p. 204Google Scholar
Rothman, D., Strangers at the Bedside: A History of How Law and Bioethics Transformed Medical Decision Making (New York: Basic Books, 1991), p. 261Google Scholar
Montgomery, J.Law and the Demoralisation of Medicine’ (2006) 26 Legal Studies 185CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrington, J., ‘Visions of Utopia: Markets, Medicine and the National Health Service’ (2009) 29 Legal Studies 379CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callahan, D., ‘Autonomy: A Moral Good, Not a Moral Obsession’ (1984) 14 The Hastings Centre Report 40, 42CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hale, B., ‘The Human Rights Act and Mental Health Law: Has it Helped?’ (2007) 13 Journal of Mental Health Law 7, 17Google Scholar

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  • Conclusion
  • Mary Donnelly, University College Cork
  • Book: Healthcare Decision-Making and the Law
  • Online publication: 04 February 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511760679.008
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  • Conclusion
  • Mary Donnelly, University College Cork
  • Book: Healthcare Decision-Making and the Law
  • Online publication: 04 February 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511760679.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusion
  • Mary Donnelly, University College Cork
  • Book: Healthcare Decision-Making and the Law
  • Online publication: 04 February 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511760679.008
Available formats
×