PHI 2396 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Paternalism, Kantian Ethics
14 Dec 2017
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Document Summary
Physicians are there to treat patients and physicians want to treat patients. There are often cases when patients refuse treatment, some times on religious grounds. Both physicians and courts recognize the right of competent patients to refuse treatment. Physican-patient conflicts also surface when patients demand treatments that the physician thinks are inappropriate. Medical futility is defined as the alleged pointlessness or ineffectiveness of administering particular treatments. Physicians appeal to the principle that they are not obligated to provide treatments that are inconsistent with standards of today s medical practice. Utilitarianism requires that we maximize the good for everyone involved. It can be applied based on act or rule utilitarianism. Kantian ethics however, generally rejects paternalism, putting the rights and autonomy of a person above anything else.
