Rational desires and the limitation of life-sustaining treatment.

Journal article

It is accepted that treatment of previously competent, now incompetent patients can be limited if that is what the patient would desire, if she were now competent. Expressed past preferences or an advance directive are often taken to constitute sufficient evidence of what a patient would now desire. I distinguish between desires and rational desires. I argue that for a desire to be an expression of a person's autonomy, it must be or satisfy that person's rational desires. A person rationally ...

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Authors: Savulescu, J

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Bioethics
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 191-222
• Publication date: 1994-07-01
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8519.1994.tb00255.x
• EISSN: 1467-8519
• ISSN: 0269-9702
• Language: English
• Keywords: Decision Making; Withholding Treatment; Third-Party Consent; Treatment Refusal; Humans; Health Personnel; Psychology; Public Policy; Advisory Committees; Advance Directive Adherence; Cognition; Paternalism; Freedom; Euthanasia, Passive; Disabled Persons; Mental Competency; Advance Directives; Comprehension; Personal Autonomy; Social Values; Patients; Philosophy; Quality of Life