Rights of Vulnerable People: Trembled in Health Care Setting

Abstract

Informed consent is obtained from a person undergoing any treatment and from surrogates if the person is not able to consent or is incompetent. In some cases where a person is incompetent and is unable to make consent then in such situations family decisions sometimes override individual’s rights to autonomy, dignity and health care. This commentary article is based on a case study of a mentally retarded person whose family decided on his behalf for his organ donation to his brother. The aim of this paper is to critically review such cases, and attempts to provide an ethically sound decision in the identical cases.