Essay Sample on Limits & Importance of Patient Autonomy

Introduction

Autonomy is one of the vital things to be considered in healthcare facility especially when dealing with various patient treatments, it is an ethical principle related to people as well as self-governance & determination; the patient has control over their healthcare decisions. Despite the fact that the physicians in health facilities are more acquainted with various diseases, the patient in question knows more about his/her body thus the many factors that the patient requests before giving any treatment are very important. According to (Ludbrook, 2007) Jody a 16year old teenager does not know the impact in which the pregnancy will have to her life but still her decision regarding the pregnancy should be adhered to. However, the importance, as well as the limits of creating autonomy of patients in various healthcare facilities, is further discussed below.

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First for patient autonomy in order for the patient to be able to make a decision they should have adequate knowledge and try to explore various options that are relevant to the decisions that are to be made. However, some patients may be quite knowledgeable about their illness but still; they will need a professional doctor to assist them with any information that the patients doesn't know what they don't know (Morton et. al, 2017).

Moreover, when a patient is in pain or emotionally traumatized they end up making rational decisions; therefore, autonomy is limited to some point. That informed consent on the decisions they are making is not there, therefore, in such instances, a lot of care must be taken into account. More so it is the role of the physician offering the treatment to provide any relevant information about treatment; the positive and negative effects of the treatment as stipulated by (Alsoufi, 2015). From there the patient is now in a position to make informed decisions that should be respected by the medical professionals, patients also have power over their bodies. Perhaps this patient autonomy might be limited if the made decisions might cause any harm to the patient or others or when it violates the conscience of the medical doctors

In addition, there is the principle ethics of free will, in which an individual should be free in making of their own decisions thus there decisions should be honored thus by doing this the dignity of the patients is enhanced.

Conclusion

In conclusion, respect for autonomy in healthcare is vital because it is the rights of the patients to make their own decisions; therefore, it should not be seen as a light issue. Consequently, various individuals have different beliefs and moral decisions hence any treatment regarding their bodies should be their final say.

Reference

Alsoufi, B., Mori, M., Gillespie, S., Schlosser, B., Slesnick, T., Kogon, B., ... & Kanter, K. (2015). Impact of patient characteristics and anatomy on results of Norwood operation for hypoplastic left heart syndrome. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 100(2), 591-598.

Ludbrook, R. (2007). Child's right to consent to or refuse medical treatment. Journal of Childrenz Issues, 11 (2), 1-5.

Moses, H., Matheson, D. H., Cairns-Smith, S., George, B. P., Palisch, C., & Dorsey, E. R. (2015). The anatomy of medical research: US and international comparisons. Jama, 313(2), 174-189.

Morton, P. G., Fontaine, D., Hudak, C. M., & Gallo, B. M. (2017). Critical care nursing: a holistic approach (p. 1056). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.