Vulnerable patients

What is it about?

Patients have a right to autonomy that encompasses making medical decisions that others consider ‘bad’. In fact there are a number of circumstances in which the law can intervene to protect patients with mental capacity from their bad decisions. The circumstances in which this is true and the normative justifications are critiqued in this paper.

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Why is it important?

The article reveals the inadequacies of the legal protection of the autonomy rights of those considered 'vulnerable'. It also raises important questions about the duties of clinicians, particularly in light of new liabilities for neglect which may lead to defensive practices and risk hard paternalism.

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