Civil Protection Of Patient Autonomy In The Doctor-patient Relationship,

With China's development and the principles' influence such as equality andright, the right consciousness of people has been awakened and increasinglystrengthened. Personal right is being stressed more and more. The relationshipbetween patients and the hospital authorities have also been changed in this trend.The rights of patients are more and more equal with that of the hospital authorities.To regulate the new relationship between patients and the hospital authorities moreappropriately, we must believe that the relationship between them should becontractual, which is regulated by the civil law. The decision-making rights ofpatients should be stressed and protected by the civil law if we have believed thatthe relations between patients and the hospital authorities are civil legal relations,because of the importance of the decision-making rights of patients to thepatients to posse the equal legal status with the hospital authorities. The wholearticle is divided into four parts besides the preface and conclusion.In the fist part of this thesis, I enumerate the characteristics, the social andhistorical background, the transforming trend and the reasons thereof about therelationship between the patients and the hospital authorities. And then I list thetraits rooted in the relationship, such as "the parties have equal legal status","autonomy of the parties' will", "principle of making compensation for equalvalue". All of the traits above aim to prove that the relationship between patientsand the hospital authorities is civil legal relationship. In general condition, it is civilcontractual relationship. The relationship between patients and the hospitalauthorities, which discussed in this thesis, is limited to be civil contractual relationsin this part.In the second part, firstly I describe the meaning, the creation, the developmentand the content of the decision-making rights of patients. Then I discuss how torealize the decision-making rights of patients and analyze the principle of"Informed Consent" in detail. At last, I point out that the doctors must fulfill theirspecial obligations to explain the circumstances during the medical treatmentprocess to ensure that patients can exercise the decision-making rights adequately.The explanation made by the doctors must contain the state of the illness, the reason to take the medical treatment, the possible danger and the alternativemedical treatments. Only under some conditions, such as medical emergency,minor damages, the unfavorable influence caused by the explanation and nonecessity of the explanation, the doctor's obligation of explaining could beexempted.In the third part, I describe the conflicts between the decision-making rights ofpatients and other rights or interests. All rights should be limited. So thedecision-making rights of patients should also be limited. The decision-makingrights of patients are related to the obligations of patients. Patients should protectpublic interests and other persons' interests when exercising their decision-makingrights. First I describe the conflicts between the decision-making rights of patientsand the obligation of being taken compulsory treatment. Even the patients musttake the compulsory treatment under the special conditions set by the law, thepatients still have the rights to decide the medical institution, the doctors and refusethe treatment plan. The compulsory treatments are the necessary limitation to thepatients for the public interests. Then, I talk about the contradiction between thedecision-making rights of patients and the doctors' discretion. It is necessary togive the doctors discretion for the high specialization and technology of the medialtreatment. To solve this contradiction, some principles should be followed: thedoctors should maintain the realization of the decision-making rights of patients;the doctors should be endowed with some discretion, the consistency of theprotection both to the patients and the doctors. At the end of this part, I discuss theconflicts between the decision-making rights of patients and the protection of theright of life, and what kind of situation should allow the patients to choose die ornot.The last part of this thesis discusses the liabilities for breach of contract forviolating the decision-making rights of patients. The liabilities for breach ofcontract for violating the decision-making rights of patients should be clarified inorder to protect the decision-making rights of patients more effectively. At first, Ipoint out that the liabilities for breach of contract for violating the decision-makingrights of patients are important to protect the decision-making rights of patients, theaggrieved party can choose an action of tort or covenant at liberty. Then I discuss the constitutive requirements of the liabilities for breach of contract for violatingthe decision-making rights of patients.