Ethics in Health Care

Ethics in Health Care

Module Three

Respect for Autonomy: A Closer Look

Video Presenter: James Childress

James F. Childress is the John Allen Hollingsworth Professor of Ethics and Professor of Medical Education at the University of Virginia, where he teaches in the Department of Religious studies and directs the Institute for Practical Ethics and Public Life. Childress is the author of numerous articles and several books in biomedical ethics, including Principles of Biomedical Ethics (with Tom L. Beauchamp), now in its sixth edition and translated into several languages. He was Vice-Chair of the National Task Force on Organ Transplantation, a member of the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee, and a member of the presidentially-appointed national Bioethics Advisory Commission 1996-2001.

Overview:

In this module, Professor James Childress further explores the middle level principle of respect for autonomy, focusing on what his term encompasses the limitations and factors that affect how we conceive of and respect autonomy, and the need to determine how important respect for autonomy ought to be in consideration of other principles. In particular, Childress explores what a rich notion of the principle of respect for autonomy will look like, how it relates to decision making capacity and the social-cultural context of those being cared for, how it is affected by considerations of time, and the role of consent in respecting autonomy.

Readings:

Baily, M. (2011). Futility, Autonomy and Cost in End-of-Life Care. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, (Summer), 172-182. Full text - PDF Full Text

Cowart, D. & Robert B. (1998). Confronting Death: Who Chooses, who Controls? Hastings Center Report, 28 (1), 14-24. Full text - HTML Full Text

Kukla, R. (2007). How do Patients Know? Hastings Center Report, (Sept-Oct), 27-35.

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Secker, B. (1999). The Appearance of Kant’s Deontology in Contemporary Kantianism: Concepts of Patient Autonomy in Bioethics. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 24(1), 43-66.

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