Autonomy in the Clinical Rel.

Catalog description

Autonomy is a cornerstone value of medical ethics. Even so, there is widespread disagreement regarding the nature of autonomy, what it means to respect the autonomy of others, and autonomy’s proper role – as well as its limits – in medicine. This course provides students an opportunity to explore these issues and how they affect the students’ professional lives. It begins with a treatment of the various theories of autonomy. It then moves on to such questions as: Does respecting patient autonomy require providing patients with whatever treatment they wish? How do we respect the autonomy of patients who can no longer make autonomous decisions of their own? Does physician autonomy justify withholding medically indicated interventions to which the physician has moral objections? Students will have the opportunity to wrestle with these and other questions in an open, supportive, discussion-based setting. Doing so will provide students with an understanding of important issues in professionalism and patient care which will be valuable for their Step 2 exams.