1.Patient autonomy may indeed be one of the most central ethical Essay Research Paper

Patient Autonomy As One of the Most Central Ethical Principles in Medical Law - Research Paper Example From a moral perspective, Christman posits that â€Å"individual autonomy is an idea that is generally understood to refer to the capacity to be one’s own person, to live one’s life according to reasons and motives that are taken as one’s own and not the product of manipulative or distorting external forces.2† Christman further extrapolates that â€Å"in the western tradition, the view that individual autonomy is a basic and political value is a very much modern development†. Additionally, in terms of the moral rationale for autonomy, Buss claims that â€Å"to be autonomous is to be a law to oneself†3. However, Buss further comments that directly correlated to the concept of autonomy is the scope for lack of accountability if we are not autonomous, which is clearly pertinent to medical consent and liability. In terms of UK law, the notion of consent, therefore, mirrors the ethical concept that individuals have an implied right to self-determination and autonomy. If we consider by analogy the classic statement of Justice Cardozo in the US case of Schloendorff v Society of New York Hospital4 â€Å"every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body; and a surgeon who performs an operation without his patient’s consent commits an assault, for which he is liable in damages†5. Accordingly, the general legal position is that a competent adult will be entitled to reject treatment even if this risks serious injury or death and is not in their best interests. In UK law, the general position is that lack of consent will give rise to liability in the tort of battery and trespass, where a defendant will be liable for all damages resulting from the invasion even if no injury has been caused by the lack of consent6. Academic reasoning propounds that the fundamental purpose of obtaining patient consent to a specified treatment is to protect doctors against committing an actionable tort of battery.