Medical student resources
USMLE tip #2: choose patient autonomy
Written by Naoum P. Issa, MD, PhD

In ethics questions you will be asked to choose among a variety of actions, some are paternalistic, some seemed kind, but these are usually distractors.
As a physician you will be expected to help patients make their decisions, so patient autonomy for an adult patient, no matter what the Sun or the husband or the father want to do, usually trumps all these.
If there is an answer choices that maximizes patient decision-making or patient autonomy that is usually not always but usually the best option.
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