This book explores the reality of patient control and choice in health care, and analyses how decisions should be made on behalf of those deemed incapable of making them for themselves. The contributors are distinguished experts from the disciplines of medicine, ethics, theology and law. They look at the complex problem of autonomy and consent in health care and clinical research today and its impact on the vulnerable members of society. The essays move from the exploration of lingering paternalism in health care to the acute dilemmas of treatment of and research on new born babies. In covering both general and specific problems the collection reveals how exploitation can occur, when the right of autonomy is eroded and where informed consent is illusory. Particularly vulnerable groups, such as children and people with mental handicaps, are discussed alongside cases where the vulnerability is itself an issue. A study of attitudes to female sterilisation provides a vivid example of the problems of autonomy and consent. This book should be of interest to students and teachers of ethics, health care professionals and lawyers involved in health care issues.

The right of adults with sound mind to consent to treatment or risk their own health for the benefit of the community in a clinical trial is unequivocally recognised by the law. But what about those vulnerable by virtue of their age, nature or position in society? Experts from the fields of medicine, philosophy, theology and law, explore the ethical and legal principles which seek to reconcile the individual's right to autonomy with the need to protect vulnerable groups. Discussions refer both to specific groups (premature babies, children, people with mental handicaps) and specific issues (cases of abuse by sterilization of women, suicide, the right to information).