RT Article
T1 Profiling for the good: Patient profile tests and informed, autonomous decision making
JF Bioethics
VO 35
IS 5
SP 429
OP 437
A1 Andreou, Chrisoula ca. 20./21. Jh.
LA English
PB Wiley-Blackwell
YR 2021
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1760783064
AB It is commonly held that, given multiple medically permissible ways of proceeding, each with a different impact on the patient’s future, it is extremely important, and part of respecting patient autonomy, that patients not be under substantial pressure to defer to their physicians’ presumed authority. Some, however, worry that the focus on patient autonomy can be detrimental and that, at least in cases where it is hard to grasp what it is really like to live with certain outcomes without any first-hand or second-hand experience, it is best if patient choice is firmly directed, or at least effectively nudged, by the recommendation of an experienced medical professional. The idea seems to be that, since physicians cannot get their patients to promptly assimilate a large amount of information and experience, physicians must, if they are to really help their patients make good decisions in hard cases, exert non-argumentative influence on them. But this neglects an interesting possibility, namely the possibility of influencing patients by providing them with evidence regarding what decisions have proved most satisfactory for patients with their profile. Approximations of patient profile tests are already employed in medical practice. But the potential of the profile-test approach in medical practice (and research) has been obscured by ongoing debate that neglects the significance of the approach with respect to the apparent dilemma faced by patients who need to make informed, autonomous decisions but cannot be expected to fully assimilate, in short order, the knowledge and experience of their physicians.
K1 physician directives
K1 patient profiles
K1 nudging
K1 non-argumentative influence
K1 medical decision making
K1 Informed Consent
K1 autonomous choice
DO 10.1111/bioe.12863