title: Shaping patients' decisions.
abstract: Many physicians struggle to strike an acceptable balance between respecting patient autonomy and guiding patients' decisions toward what is in their best interests based on their expressed values and long-term goals. Over the past 40 years, the ethical principle of respect for autonomy has gained primacy in Western medicine, but judgments about the appropriate dose of influence on patient decisions have been clouded by misconceptions about patient autonomy. In this article, we consider three such misconceptions with the goal of helping physicians to optimally promote their patients' interests.
authors.affiliation: Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX. Electronic address: jsswinde@bcm.edu.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Swindell
authors.affiliation: Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.
authors.forename: Amy L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: McGuire
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Center for Bioethics, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, and Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Scott D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Halpern
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans; D010358:Patient Participation; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics*