Bioethics: autonomy, consent, and care
Medicine raises ethical questions every day, and bioethics gives a shared vocabulary for working through them.
Four guiding principles
A widely used framework names four principles. Respect for autonomy means honouring a competent person's own decisions about their body. Beneficence means acting for the patient's good. Non-maleficence means avoiding harm. Justice means distributing benefits, risks, and scarce resources fairly. Hard cases arise when these principles pull in different directions.
Informed consent
Consent counts as informed when a person understands the nature, risks, benefits, and alternatives of a treatment, and agrees voluntarily. It protects autonomy and builds trust. Historical abuses in medical research, where people were experimented on without their knowledge, are a major reason modern research ethics treats consent as non-negotiable.
Worked example: a refused treatment
A competent adult refuses a blood transfusion for religious reasons, knowing she may die without it. Beneficence seems to favour transfusing; autonomy favours respecting her choice. Most bioethicists conclude that a competent adult's informed refusal must be respected, while a doctor should make sure she truly understands the risks and is not under pressure from others.
Flashcard
A person's right to make their own decisions
Check your understanding
A doctor wants to give treatment a competent patient has clearly refused. Which principle most directly supports respecting the refusal?