论患者知情同意权

Patients' Right of Informed Consent

知情同意权作为患者最主要的权利之一,是民法意思自治原则在医疗领域中的体现。我国《侵权责任法》首次以法律的形式规定了患者知情同意权,这无疑是在保护患者利益方面很大的进步。患者知情同意权应当以患者利益最大化为最终价值目标,并在特殊情况下对其给予适当限制,如当涉及患者自杀目的,或其他非理性的想法而做出危及生命的决定,或患者家属做出的有损于患者生命健康利益的决定,以及医方对患者进行保护性医疗措施时的患者知情同意权的限制等情形。

Informed consent, as one of the most basic rights of patients, is an exemplification of the principle of autonomy in civil law in medical field. The Tort Liability Law legislates the patients＇ right of informed consent for the first time in China, which is definitely a huge progress in protecting patients. The ultimate goal of informed consent is to respect patients and maximize their benefits. However, the author argued that there should be some limitations of informed consent, such as in the eases where a patient wants to commit suicide or makes a life-threatening irrational decision, or the patient＇s family make a decision against patient＇s best interests, or medical care providers carrying out protective medical treatment to patient, etc.