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KMID : 1011120090030030289
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Bioethics Policy Studies
2009 Volume.3 No. 3 p.289 ~ p.309
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Study on A Patient"s Best Interest
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Choe Ji-Yoon
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Abstract
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This study aims at trying to identify what the surrogate decision making for a dying patient’s interest is on the basis of Ronald Dworkin’s theory. Incompetent patients are not able to make decision about their own treatments which undoubtedly count for much. Someone among the patient"s family or friends should decide whether life-sustaining treatment is continued or stopped. But surely the surrogate doesn’t have to decide arbitrary the determination of the patient. The surrogate decision making should be based on the patient’s interest.
However, what is the interest? And what is the patient’s best interest? What is the surrogate decision making for the dying patient’s interest? How do we know what determination regards the patient’s interest? Dworkin said that a human being has experiential interests and critical interests. And seeking of the patient’s best interest means that we respect his or her critical interests related to his faith, standard of value, and identity. Therefore the surrogate should try to understand patient’s critical interests in order to find out best determination regarding the dying patient’s best interest. Also if the dignity of human is an indispensable value of his or her whole life, we can accept a little early death as the only means to keep the patient’s dignity. According to Dworkin’s opinion, in some cases, the sanctity of life is supported rather than destroyed by euthanasia.
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KEYWORD
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sanctity of life, dignity of human, patients’ best interest, experiential interest, critical interest
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