In relation to health care law the principle patient autonomy entails taking into account and giving consideration to the patient's views of their treatment.
Autonomy was first recognised as a relevant ethical principle to be endorsed by the courts in relation to heath care law by Mr Justice Cardozo in America and later affirmed in the English courts by Lord Donaldson; "An adult patient who suffers from no mental incapacity has an absolute right to choose whether to consent to medical treatment, to refuse it, or to choose one rather than another of the treatments being offered...This right of choice is not limited to decisions which others might regard as sensible. It exists notwithstanding that the reasons for making the choice are rational, irrational, unknown or even non-existent" .
A patient's right to autonomy pivots on the consent to treatment they give; consent is a method of autonomy. …
