Autonomy is a core value of American tradition and is promoted in health care through the doctrine of informed consent. The notion underlying informed consent is that patients should have the right to decide, and are often in the best position to know, what will enhance their own well-being. Although this ethic has been extended to incompetent patients, by employing surrogate decision making, providing surrogate decision makers for adults with moderate, mild, and borderline mental retardation (M-BMR), who could potentially make their own decisions if adequate supports were offered, unreasonably restricts the autonomy of such individuals and often results in disregard for the patients human dignity.
This thesis recommends that health care institutions provide a personal assistant for all health care visits involving adults with M-BMR. In her role as an advocate for the patient, the personal assistant would offer a less restrictive means of promoting the patients autonomy in medical decision making than has limited guardianship, thus furthering the goals of guardianship reform that limited guardianship has been unable to do. Serving as an educator and translator, the personal assistant would provide a means to equalize the patients opportunity to understand the diagnosis, treatment options, and risks and benefits of those treatments. Alternatively, in cases where a surrogate decision maker is required, the personal assistant would aid in equalizing the patients opportunity to understand what is happening during medical procedures by ensuring continued communication with the patient with M-BMR. Finally, having training in ethics, the personal assistant would foster a collaborative approach to medical decision making that recognizes the importance of incorporating both the physicians experience and knowledge and the family member or caregivers unique understanding of the patient in the medical decision. Together, the personal assistant and the collaborative decision making approach will enhance discussion between the physician, patient, and family member or caregiver, thereby helping balance the autonomy and the well-being of the patient with M-BMR, while also ensuring that the patients dignity is respected.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04272007-032217 |
| Date | 20 June 2007 |
| Creators | Pope, Sarah M. |
| Contributors | Elizabeth Chaitin, Alan Meisel, James Flannery |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04272007-032217/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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