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The Role of Regret in Medical Decision-making

Paddy McQueen Orcid Logo

Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Volume: 20, Issue: 5, Pages: 1051 - 1065

Swansea University Author: Paddy McQueen Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1007/s10677-017-9844-8

Abstract

This paper examines the role that regret does and should play in medical decision-making. I assess whether the possibility of a patient experiencing post-treatment regret is a good reason for doctors to advise against, or withhold altogether, a treatment. As things stand, the possibility of post-tre...

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Published in: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice
ISSN: 1386-2820 1572-8447
Published: 2017
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa48284
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first_indexed 2019-01-18T14:01:34Z
last_indexed 2020-07-01T19:02:13Z
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spelling 2020-07-01T13:30:04.8491574 v2 48284 2019-01-18 The Role of Regret in Medical Decision-making 4e2ee88771eac4a88ad1bc294afec919 0000-0001-9696-8654 Paddy McQueen Paddy McQueen true false 2019-01-18 APC This paper examines the role that regret does and should play in medical decision-making. I assess whether the possibility of a patient experiencing post-treatment regret is a good reason for doctors to advise against, or withhold altogether, a treatment. As things stand, the possibility of post-treatment regret is sometimes taken to a strong reason against a treatment, even when a decision-competent patient makes an informed request for it. Furthermore, medical researchers and practitioners frequently understand post-treatment regret to be a serious problem, which reveals a mistake or flaw in the medical decision-making process. I argue against these views. I show that the possibility of post-treatment regret is not always, or even often, a good reason for withholding a treatment. Indeed, there are occasions when the very reference to post-treatment regret during medical decision-making is inappropriate. This, I suggest, occurs when the decision concerns a “personally transformative treatment”. This is a treatment that alters a person’s identity. Because the treatment is transformative, neither clinicians nor the patient him/herself can know whether post-treatment regret will occur. As a result, what matters when deciding to offer a personally transformative treatment is whether the patient has sufficiently good reasons for wanting the treatment at the time the decision is made. What does not matter is how the patient may subsequently be changed by undergoing the treatment. Journal Article Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 20 5 1051 1065 1386-2820 1572-8447 Medical decision-making; Regret; Sex/gender reassignment surgery; Transformative experience; Voluntary sterilisation 15 11 2017 2017-11-15 10.1007/s10677-017-9844-8 COLLEGE NANME Politics, Philosophy and International Relations COLLEGE CODE APC Swansea University 2020-07-01T13:30:04.8491574 2019-01-18T10:21:10.9130499 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - Politics, Philosophy and International Relations Paddy McQueen 0000-0001-9696-8654 1 0048284-11022019133701.pdf 48284.pdf 2019-02-11T13:37:01.3970000 Output 486586 application/pdf Version of Record true 2019-02-10T00:00:00.0000000 Released under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY). true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title The Role of Regret in Medical Decision-making
spellingShingle The Role of Regret in Medical Decision-making
Paddy McQueen
title_short The Role of Regret in Medical Decision-making
title_full The Role of Regret in Medical Decision-making
title_fullStr The Role of Regret in Medical Decision-making
title_full_unstemmed The Role of Regret in Medical Decision-making
title_sort The Role of Regret in Medical Decision-making
author_id_str_mv 4e2ee88771eac4a88ad1bc294afec919
author_id_fullname_str_mv 4e2ee88771eac4a88ad1bc294afec919_***_Paddy McQueen
author Paddy McQueen
author2 Paddy McQueen
format Journal article
container_title Ethical Theory and Moral Practice
container_volume 20
container_issue 5
container_start_page 1051
publishDate 2017
institution Swansea University
issn 1386-2820
1572-8447
doi_str_mv 10.1007/s10677-017-9844-8
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - Politics, Philosophy and International Relations{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - Politics, Philosophy and International Relations
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description This paper examines the role that regret does and should play in medical decision-making. I assess whether the possibility of a patient experiencing post-treatment regret is a good reason for doctors to advise against, or withhold altogether, a treatment. As things stand, the possibility of post-treatment regret is sometimes taken to a strong reason against a treatment, even when a decision-competent patient makes an informed request for it. Furthermore, medical researchers and practitioners frequently understand post-treatment regret to be a serious problem, which reveals a mistake or flaw in the medical decision-making process. I argue against these views. I show that the possibility of post-treatment regret is not always, or even often, a good reason for withholding a treatment. Indeed, there are occasions when the very reference to post-treatment regret during medical decision-making is inappropriate. This, I suggest, occurs when the decision concerns a “personally transformative treatment”. This is a treatment that alters a person’s identity. Because the treatment is transformative, neither clinicians nor the patient him/herself can know whether post-treatment regret will occur. As a result, what matters when deciding to offer a personally transformative treatment is whether the patient has sufficiently good reasons for wanting the treatment at the time the decision is made. What does not matter is how the patient may subsequently be changed by undergoing the treatment.
published_date 2017-11-15T03:58:40Z
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score 10.999252

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