A Confucian View of Informed Consent in Biomedical Practice

This chapter argues that contemporary Confucian people must reject medical paternalism, but they do not have to shift to an individualist approach to informed consent in biomedical practice. To pursue the complete ideal of human flourishing, Confucian tradition should develop a Confucian conception of human rights, including a right to informed consent for patients, subjects and their families in biomedical contexts. However, the Confucian account of informed consent for biomedical practice is not an individualist account, in which the individual is appreciated as possessing sole or exclusive decisional authority in biomedical matters independently of one’s family. Instead, the Confucian approach to informed consent is virtue-based and family-oriented. It accentuates the naturalness, usefulness and normalness of the engagement of family members in a patient’s biomedical decision-making, thus acknowledging a shared decisional authority granted by both the patient and the family. If the patient and the immediate family members hold disagreement, they need to work out a solution through reasonable discussion in light of the moral requirements of the virtues. Sometimes, the physician may play a crucial role in providing advice and standing on the patient’s or the family’s side to tip the scale.