Patient Autonomy Vs Professional Standards

Patient autonomy is universally known as self-governance. This furthermore means a patient’s informed decision based on the information divulged by a doctor to the patient. The proper definition of an informed decision can only be made if all the information known by the practitioner is laid out on the table. A basic human right that is given is autonomy. Within the medical world, there are three models of disclosure of information which include: the professional standard, reasonable patient standard, and subjective standard. When comparing the two standards, the reasonable patient standard is better than the professional standard because it offers more autonomy. Along with this, other considerations do not outweigh the importance of autonomy
This means that the standard does not offer the patient full informed consent. Informed consent is not just about the information the professional reveals, it is also about whether the information is enough and presented it the correct way. Informed consent in the patient/doctor relationship is best understood as the patient autonomously accepting or rejecting a procedure offered by the doctor. The doctor discloses a procedure, along with the benefits, risks and alternatives. With the divulged information, in order to make a decision, one must fully understand what they are consenting to. Informed consent has to do with the patient understanding the information provided as well. The professional standard is a standardization for medical judgments. The profession standard has clients feeling constrained because someone else is making the decisions for them which can alter their life. It can become a problem when people are incompetent to making a decision. It would be very different if patients made a choice on their decision before incompetency occurs. This standard also enhances patient autonomy the least because the doctor picks and chooses what they disclose to their patient, ultimately influencing their medical decisions. Therefore, the professional standard is least autonomous in comparison to the reasonable person
It can be explained in two different types of decision making approaches. There are two, the utilitarian and the deontological approach. Utilitarian approaches focus on society while deontological approaches focus on the individual. Utilitarian ideals require patient autonomy because patient autonomy is crucial when discussing what is morally best for human needs. Utilitarian views are similar to consequentialist views which focus on how the results and the outcomes determines how successful it is. The utilitarian approach is based off of what is best according to trial and evidence from proven statistics. It is performed standardization, not uniquely fitting a patient to their unique needs. With deontology, the approach is more about the individual and what is best fit for them. Utilitarian has to do with what is best for society, the greatest amount of good for the most amount of people possible. With this approach there are more rules and laws restricting the abstract and strictly following the guidelines. Following the guidelines, is not more important than autonomy. As previously mentioned, utilitarian views require patient autonomy because it is the first step when discussing what is morally best for human needs. Informed consent, is the patient choosing what they want. Self-determination comes before anything else. Therefore even though both approaches show that