This entry focuses on autonomy in health care. A patient’s right to make decisions about their health and medical care is a fundamental value in the United States. Patient autonomy has a long history in US case law and more recently, in medical ethics. Legal decisions have consistently upheld the doctrine that competent adults have the right to determine if they will receive medical care as well as to choose the type of care they will receive. Similarly, autonomy is a priority in principlism, the prevailing framework for bioethical decisions in the United States. Among the four core ethical principles, respect for autonomy (self-rule or self-governance) is often given priority ahead of beneficence (acting in the patient’s best interests), non-maleficence (doing no harm), and justice (treating people fairly). Veatch emphasizes that autonomy is a foundational principle from which other ethical values stem. Autonomous acts have three components: (1) intentionality, (2) understanding, and...
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Searight, H.R., Perkins, S.F. (2012). Autonomy. In: Loue, S., Sajatovic, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Immigrant Health. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5659-0_62
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