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Aging: Balancing Autonomy and Beneficence

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Psychiatric Ethics in Late-Life Patients

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Abstract

Aging is associated with losses and cognitive changes which can greatly affect one’s sense of autonomy. As clinicians care for an increased number of older adults, they will need to become more adept at striking a reasonable balance between patient autonomy and clinical guidance when the two are not in alignment. This chapter will look at existing theoretical frameworks evaluating the relationship between autonomy and beneficence and also how these paradigms can be applied to the clinical encounter. These concepts will be crystallized with case vignettes which describe common clinical scenarios in which patient autonomy and clinician beneficence are in conflict and how this divergence can be better understood and addressed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Boise VA Medical Center, Boise, ID, USA

    Reiko Emtman

  2. Cambridge Health Alliance, Harvard Medical School, Everett, MA, USA

    Jason Strauss

Authors
  1. Reiko Emtman
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  2. Jason Strauss
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Correspondence to Jason Strauss .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Meera Balasubramaniam

  2. Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Aarti Gupta

  3. Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Rajesh R. Tampi

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Emtman, R., Strauss, J. (2019). Aging: Balancing Autonomy and Beneficence. In: Balasubramaniam, M., Gupta, A., Tampi, R. (eds) Psychiatric Ethics in Late-Life Patients. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15172-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15172-0_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-15171-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-15172-0

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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