The concept of medically indicated treatment.
The following article examines critically Robert Veatch's argument that respect for patient autonomy invalidates the concept of medically indicated treatment. I contend that when judgments of medically indicated treatment are distinguished from what ought to be done in a given case, all things considered, they are compatible with patient autonomy. Yet there remains a significant danger, which needs to be guarded against, that physicians will use these judgments to dominate their interactions with patients. Medicine would be impoverished, however, if physicians were barred from using clinical judgment to recommend medically indicated treatment.
Miller
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FG
Center for Biomedical Ethics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville 22908.
D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D010358:Patient Participation; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012945:Social Values; D013812:Therapeutics; D016312:Treatment Refusal