Bioethics needs an elaborated concept of autonomy based on empirical knowledge about
the prerequisites of the capacity of autonomy. Whereas Beauchamp and Childress, and …

Beauchamp and Childress have performed a great service by strengthening the principle of
respect for the patient's autonomy against the paternalism that dominated medicine until at …

For the ethical evaluation of psychiatric decisions the will of the patient–apart from his
welfare, of course–has gained special importance in recent years. It is constitutionally …

The decision to involuntary hospitalize a patient underlines an inherent contradiction in
psychiatry between the need for care and the lack of consent to care. The growing …

Although the individuality of people is clear, independence is a more relative concept. Ideas
about autonomy are inherently philosophical, if not even cultural. People are assumed to be …

This paper considers a number of questions concerning a central principle of modern liberal
medical ethics–that of respect for patient autonomy. This principle is generally interpreted as …

“Autonomy” has become a central point of reference in the realm of medical ethics. This also
applies without exception to psychiatry in patient care and research. The term of autonomy …

Autonomy is an important concept in ethical and political theory and arguably a central
concept in bioethics. Its implications for psychiatry are clearest in cases in which …

Current capacity-based legislation and practice overvalues autonomy to the detriment of
other ethical principles. A balanced ethical approach would consider the patient's right to …

One of the ethical issues that has been raised recently regarding emerging neurotherapies
is that people will be coerced explicitly or implicitly in the workplace or in schools to take …