Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 4-25-2025
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Philosophy and Religion
First Advisor
Deborah Mower
Second Advisor
Neil Manson
Third Advisor
Sumner Abraham
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Since the latter part of the 20th century, there has been a gradual but significant shift of the doctor-patient relation from paternalism to a more patient-centric approach. As such, informed consent – the legal and moral requirement that a physician fully disclose relevant details to their patient and gain their consent – is a central doctrine to patient-centric care. Gone are the days of the doctor governing the patient: the patient is now considered a valuable and important decision-maker. Achieving informed consent is the foundation of patient centric medicine. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that philosophical consideration be given to informed consent to ensure it is being implemented correctly. In this paper, I will be focusing on how the standard view of informed consent, the proprietary gate model, falls short because of prevalent framing biases found in the way risk is communicated to patients. Framing in a medical context is the way in which a healthcare provider describes an intervention and its associated risk. Simply put, describing risk in a positive or negative light might affect whether the patient consents or dissents. This leads to a logical contradiction: the patient can, hypothetically, simultaneously waive and retain their right based on the act descriptor used. I argue because these framing biases show a clear contradiction in the standard view of consent, we must use a different model altogether: the evidentiary model. Even more, while using the evidentiary model, to mitigate the effects of framing biases, a physician must use the act descriptor that makes it less likely for the patient to consent. I term this the conservative approach to informed consent. With the combined effort of the evidentiary model and the conservative approach, informed consent still remains valid and effective in achieving its intended function.
Recommended Citation
Polk, James D., "The Conservative Approach to Informed Consent: The Evidentiary Model and an Antidote to the Problem of Framing Effects in Medical Decision-Making" (2025). Honors Theses. 3229.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3229
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