Question

Provide an ethical analysis supporting the decision to override the patient’s right of autonomy or discuss why such a course of action would not be supported from the perspective of biomedical ethics.

Answer 1

Overriding the patients right of autonomy is not supported from the perspective of biomedical ethics.When treatment interventions are futile or unable to improve a patients condition ,they often merely prolong life and delay the inevitable death of the patient .Withholding or terminating life support is often a very difficult decision to make and idelly ,should be made preemptively by the patient via an advance directive .More often ,though,an advance directive is not available and it falls to the family to make this difficult decision .Regardless of who exactly decides ,legally and ethically ,the decision should be based on what the patient would have decided or on the best interests of the patient.A majority of the patients decision are based on two important and distinct principles autonomy of the individual and informed consent.competency is the ability of the patient to become autonomous.A functional approach is used to establish a patients competence and it involves meeting three specific criteriafree action,authenticity and effective deliberation.Therefore a competent pa tient should be acting freely and within character while also being able to deliberate and express the issues clearly at hand.