Soft Paternalism purports to be a distinct kind of paternalism. Standard ‘hard’ paternalism is the interference of a state or an individual with another person, against their will, and justified by a claim that the person interfered with will be better off or protected from harm (Dworkin 2005). Because this interference limits a person’s freedom without her consent, standard paternalism is oppo...

This paper is a brief introduction to the subject of paternalism as it occurs in general practice. A definition of paternalism is provided and the four main types of doctor-patient relationship within the paternalistic spectrum are described. These relationships are illustrated with examples from general practice. Some of the extensive literature on paternalism is reviewed. It is concluded that...

The aim of this article is to examine the moral justifiability of paternalism in the case of active voluntary euthanasia (assisted suicide) as represented in the Pretty v UK decision of the European Court of Human Rights. There are three approaches towards the justification of paternalism, corresponding to the three main trends of normative ethics. Deontological theories place personal autonomy...

This article analyzes the comparative history of the law and practice of abortion and assisted reproduction in the United States to consider the interplay between medical paternalism and legal paternalism. It supplements existing critiques of paternalism as harmful to women's equality with the medical perspective, as revealed through the writings of Alan F. Guttmacher, to consider when legal re...

On the motion that "medical paternalism serves the patient best", this essay reviews current arguments on medical paternalism vs. patient autonomy. Citing medico-ethical texts and journals and selected real-life applications like electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and the advanced medical directive (AMD), the essay argues that medical paternalism cannot serve the patient best insofar as current de...

Abstract The balance between patient autonomy and medical paternalism must be reexamined. The tension between autonomy and paternalism is both an ethical and practical issue. Autonomy is the current gold standard approach to patient communication and has grown to the point that patient preference dictates care, even when their choices are not possible or are medically nonbeneficial. Furthermore...

This Article’s claim is that the two most common explanations for paternalism’s negative character are mistaken. The first view, which underlies the recent work by Professors Thaler and Sunstein, maintains that paternalism is negatively charged because it involves coercive interference with people’s choices. This approach proves inadequate, however, because more coercive actions can be a less o...

Paternalism is a policy that advances an individual’s interests by restricting his or her freedom. In a setting with present-biased agents, I characterize the scope of private paternalism — paternalism implemented by private institutions. Private paternalism arises from two channels: (i) agents who seek commitment because they hold sophisticated beliefs about their present bias, and (ii) agents...

This paper challenges the view that bans on kidney sales are unjustifiably paternalistic, that is, that they unduly deny people the freedom to make decisions about their own bodies in order to protect them from harm. I argue that not even principled anti-paternalists should reject such bans. This is because their rationale is not hard paternalism, which anti-paternalists repudiate, but soft pat...

Bioethicists have failed to understand the pervasively paternalistic character of research ethics. Not only is the overall structure of research review and regulation paternalistic in some sense; even the way informed consent is sought may imply paternalism. Paternalism has limits, however. Getting clear on the paternalism of research ethics may mean some kinds of prohibited research should be ...