CHAPTER 8: ASSESSING THE PATIENT’S AUTONOMY: THE PHYSICIAN IN THE FACE OF METAPHYSICS

Abstract

Faced with complex situations, caregivers test one of the oldest philosophical questions: how to prove the freedom of a decision? In the care, it is a question of determining if the patient has understood the situation, evaluated the consequences of his choice and if his decision is taken in the absence of any constraint. In other words, is the patient’s decision an autonomous decision? But what are the tools that make it possible to evaluate this autonomy precisely and objectively? And also, how to promote a greater autonomy?