Monday, 24 September 2012

Breast Conserving Surgery-Treatment Decisions-Breast Cancer Care-Treatment Choice

Autonomy and reason: treatment choice in breast cancer

AbstractThe practice of offering choice to those women with breast cancer for whom either breast conserving surgery or mastectomy would be equally beneficial has come to be seen as an important aspect of medical care. As well as improving satisfaction with treatment, this is seen as satisfying the ethical principle of respect for autonomy. A number of studies, however, show that women are not always comfortable with such choice, preferring to leave treatment decisions to their surgeons. A question then arises as to the extent that these women can be seen as autonomous or as exercising autonomy. This paper argues, however, that the understanding of autonomy which is applied in current approaches to breast cancer care does not adequately support the exercise of autonomy, and that the clinic...MedWorm Sponsor Message: Have a look at The Breast Cancer Daily, the new breast cancer portal with all the latest breast cancer news and research powered by MedWorm, updated daily. read more..

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