The patient has a right to know the risks involved with certain medical procedures and drug therapy. The patient has a right to be treated with the utmost respect, dignity, and concern. And the patient should have the freedom to entertain their own thoughts, beliefs, and values based on their background and experiences just as the healthcare professional does. A mutual respect for these personal feelings will not only facilitate ethical decision-making but also create an environment to foster a healthy patient-practitioner relationship. .
The issue of patient rights leads to another critical factor in the moral decision making arena - the issue of patient autonomy. Respect for autonomy allows informed patients to follow their chosen path. However, the patient's capacity to make his or her own decisions must often be critically examined. Does the patient have the ability to follow through with their intended actions? Does the patient actually understand the implications surrounding their intended actions? And finally, is the patient making these decisions independently or is there substantial influence from others? Of course, these questions are open to interpretation and rarely would the answers to these questions be black and white [2]. Again it comes down to professional judgment potentially intermixed with personal biases. We as health care professionals and pharmacists must learn to recognize our personal biases as we make moral decisions for and about our patients.
Patient autonomy deserves a more detailed exploration. Is it ethically acceptable to allow a patient to follow their self-chosen path in all situations? Should a health care professional offer advice or try to change a patients mind? I think it is important to note here that patients do look to their health care provider for an opinion, but they also expect that the opinion offered consists of sound medical advice and is not necessarily tainted with the moral code adopted by that individual.