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Affect, Values and Problems Assessing Decision-Making Capacity.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Hawkins, J
Published in: The American journal of bioethics : AJOB
August 2024

The dominant approach to assessing decision-making capacity in medicine focuses on determining the extent to which individuals possess certain core cognitive abilities. Critics have argued that this model delivers the wrong verdict in certain cases where patient values that are the product of mental disorder or disordered affective states undermine decision-making without undermining cognition. I argue for a re-conceptualization of what it is to possess the capacity to make medical treatment decisions. It is, I argue, the ability to track one's own personal interests at least as well as most people can. Using this idea, I demonstrate that it is possible to craft a solution for the problem cases-one that neither alters existing criteria in dangerous ways (e.g. does not open the door to various kinds of abuse) nor violates the spirit of widely accepted ethical constraints on decision-making assessment.

Duke Scholars

Published In

The American journal of bioethics : AJOB

DOI

EISSN

1536-0075

ISSN

1526-5161

Publication Date

August 2024

Volume

24

Issue

8

Start / End Page

71 / 82

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Values
  • Personal Autonomy
  • Mental Disorders
  • Mental Competency
  • Humans
  • Decision Making
  • Cognition
  • Applied Ethics
  • Affect
  • 5001 Applied ethics
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Hawkins, J. (2024). Affect, Values and Problems Assessing Decision-Making Capacity. The American Journal of Bioethics : AJOB, 24(8), 71–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2023.2224273
Hawkins, Jennifer. “Affect, Values and Problems Assessing Decision-Making Capacity.The American Journal of Bioethics : AJOB 24, no. 8 (August 2024): 71–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2023.2224273.
Hawkins J. Affect, Values and Problems Assessing Decision-Making Capacity. The American journal of bioethics : AJOB. 2024 Aug;24(8):71–82.
Hawkins, Jennifer. “Affect, Values and Problems Assessing Decision-Making Capacity.The American Journal of Bioethics : AJOB, vol. 24, no. 8, Aug. 2024, pp. 71–82. Epmc, doi:10.1080/15265161.2023.2224273.
Hawkins J. Affect, Values and Problems Assessing Decision-Making Capacity. The American journal of bioethics : AJOB. 2024 Aug;24(8):71–82.

Published In

The American journal of bioethics : AJOB

DOI

EISSN

1536-0075

ISSN

1526-5161

Publication Date

August 2024

Volume

24

Issue

8

Start / End Page

71 / 82

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Values
  • Personal Autonomy
  • Mental Disorders
  • Mental Competency
  • Humans
  • Decision Making
  • Cognition
  • Applied Ethics
  • Affect
  • 5001 Applied ethics