COMPETENT individuals are at liberty to make their own medical treatment decisions;
incompetent individuals are not. Thus, competence and liberty are inextricably interwoven …

Capacity to consent to treatment is the ability or skill which a person must have to ensure the
primacy of respect for a person's autonomy. Respect for autonomy is the guiding principle in …

In August, 1956, Kenneth Donaldson, a 48-year-old carpenter from Camden, New Jersey,
went to Florida to visit his 80-year-old parents. A few months later, he began to feel …

A central tenet to much ethical argument within medical law is patient autonomy. 1 Although
we have seen a welcome move away from a system governed by largely unchecked …

A young woman twenty-six weeks pregnant and dying from cancer lies heavily sedated and
attached to a respirator. Is she competent to determine what life-prolonging measures …

1. For a general discussion of the principles of self-determination and autonomy, see H.
Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., The Foundations of Bioethics 264 (1986), which states that"[o] ne of …

Autonomy is a vital principle in medical law and ethics. It occupies a prominent place in all
medico-legal and ethical debate. But there is a dangerous presumption that it should have …

In this Article, Professor Baron challenges the position taken recently by Dr. Arnold Relman
in this journal that the 1977 Saikewicz decision of the Supreme Judicial Court of …

The recognition of personal autonomy as an essential element of liberty has historically
been a hallmark of American society. It was not until the 1960s, however, that patient …

For centuries, physician beneficence went unchallenged as the first principle of medical
ethics. To be sure, some physicians had, at times, violated this principle. But no creditable …