Informed Consent Reconsidered : an Expert System and the Reconstruction of Realities

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  • インフォームド・コンセント再考 : 専門家システムと現実の再構築
  • インフォームド コンセント サイコウ センモンカ システム ト ゲンジツ ノ サイコウチク

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Abstract

The discussions about informed consent have played a central role in bioethics or medical ethics. Nowadays the importance of informed consent is widely recognized not only in-America but also in other countries including Japan. Most doctors think it necessary to obtain informed consent on medical treatments and in the case of experimentations in a human body. Classic arguments for informed consent are based on the principle of autonomy. But when we discuss autonomy as a legal issue, the definition of a person is always brought in question, and against our wishes, we have to distinguish between those who are persons and those who are not. Moreover, biomedical researchers may sometimes accept informed consent reluctantly in order to defend their freedom of science against the intervention of law and politics. These are the cases where ethics is merely a name. To go beyond these limits of theories of informed consent, I refer to Giddens' concept of 'expert systems'. The system of medicine is an expert system, and doctors, who are 'access points' of the expert system, have the responsibilities to build up and maintain trust in expertise. So doctors should make every effort to communicate with their clients and obtain informed consent. Informed consent with the best communication is also required so that the sick or injured can get the image of 'cure', reconstruct their realities, and recover their self-identities. I hope my argument will be a springboard for the progress of ethics.

Journal

  • 年報人間科学

    年報人間科学 23-1 21-39, 2002

    Sociology, Anthropology and Philosophy, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University

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