Calls for “authentic therapeutic alliance”

The Pope has waded into
the debate over patient autonomy, calling for an "authentic
therapeutic alliance". In an address to surgeons in Rome, he
said that the patient is an "active and responsible collaborator
in the therapeutic treatment," and that his autonomy had to be
respected. The foundation of medicine, he insisted, should always be
"respect for human dignity. In fact, it demands the
unconditional respect of every human being, born or unborn, healthy
or sick, regardless of the condition in which they find themselves."

On the other hand,
he said that "the professional responsibility of the doctor
should bring him to propose treatments that look to the true good of
the patient, aware that his specific competence generally puts him in
a place to better evaluate the situation." This relationship is
so important that one has to "view with suspicion any attempt to
meddle in it from the outside." ~ Zenit,
Oct 20

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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