Misaligned Hope and Faith in Healthcare

Speaker: Steve Clarke, School of Social Works and Arts, Charles Sturt University

Respondents: Mehrunisha Suleman, Ethox Centre, University of Oxford

Joshua Hordern, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford

It is often said that it is important for patients to possess hope that their treatment be successful. We agree, but many hopes are based on faith and if faith-based hope informs patient decisions to undergo medical procedures then important questions are raised about patient autonomy. Libertarians will want to permit patients to make decisions to undergo medical procedures on the basis of any considerations, including faith-based hopes, on the grounds that we should respect freedom of choice. And rational interventionists will want to restrict such choices on the grounds that they cannot be rational choices, and do not, therefore, express autonomy. We navigate a middle path between these two extremes and argue that patient decision making on the basis of faith-based hope should be regarded as acceptable in healthcare when it conforms to the norms of practical rationality. These are norms which, we argue, allow patients considerable room to make decisions to consent to undergo medical procedures informed by faith-based hope. We apply our approach to four cases of patient healthcare decisions informed by faith-based hope.

Organizer: Alberto Giubilini, [email protected]

____________________

Eventbrite processes data (including any personal data you may submit by responding to this invitation) outside of the European Economic Area. Please only submit any personal data which you are happy to have processed in this way, and in accordance with Eventbrite’s privacy policy applicable to attendees (available here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/support/articles/en_US/Troubleshooting/eventbrite-privacy-policy?lg=en_GB). If you prefer not to use Eventbrite for responding to this invitation, you may respond directly to [email protected].

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher TORCH | The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities