Autonomy Vs Paternalism

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In recent years, ethicists have argued against most forms of medical paternalism. They have claimed that it is wrong for physicians to make decisions for their patients, or to impose their own values upon their patients. On this view, when physicians act paternalistically, they fail to show adequate respect for their patient’s autonomy. I believe that physicians have the right to act paternalistically if the patient gives the doctors permission and/or if the patient is not capable/conscious to be able to make a decision that will benefit their greater good in the long run.
What is Autonomy? Before jumping right into paternalism, I thought it might be informative to know what autonomy is because they are so closely related. Autonomy is the …show more content…
Paternalism is used by officials and medical professionals. They look at your all around preferences and judge them on a standard of deeper preferences when configuring limitations and freedoms. However, there are four types of preferences that prevent paternalistic intervention. They are relevant, settled, preferred, and your own preferences (Komrad 2014). As long as officials are convinced you are acting on one or all of those preferences, they have no right to step in. The disadvantages to paternalism are that most people feel that they should be able to make their own decisions without having any interference. Paternalism is looked down upon when someone feels that their best interest was in the choice they made but paternalists feel differently. For example take a girl named Alexis. She had been smoking from the age of 15, a very effectible age, and though she attempted to quit many times, the loss of her autonomy caused the addiction to take over. Her smoking then caused cancer; paternalism was too late for her. The paternalistic view may say that, at age 15, Alexis’ decision may have been to smoke, but her decision later in life is to live. If paternalistic intervention occurred when she was 15, she may not have liked it then, but knowing what she knows now, she would have been grateful later in life. This is an example of the decision being something you would regret later and being
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