Davies Ben
Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
J Med Ethics. 2020 May;46(5):300-303. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2019-106009. Epub 2020 Apr 29.
There is significant controversy over whether patients have a 'right not to know' information relevant to their health. Some arguments for limiting such a right appeal to potential burdens on others that a patient's avoidable ignorance might generate. This paper develops this argument by extending it to cases where refusal of relevant information may generate greater demands on a publicly funded healthcare system. In such cases, patients may have an 'obligation to know'. However, we cannot infer from the fact that a patient has an obligation to know that she does not also have a right not to know. The right not to know is held against medical professionals at a formal institutional level. We have reason to protect patients' control over the information that they receive, even if in individual instances patients exercise this control in ways that violate obligations.
对于患者是否拥有“知情权”这一与自身健康相关的信息，存在着重大争议。一些主张限制这种权利的观点认为，患者可避免的无知可能会给他人带来潜在负担。本文通过将这一观点扩展至拒绝相关信息可能会给公共资助的医疗系统带来更大需求的情形，来进一步阐述这一观点。在这种情况下，患者可能负有“知情权义务”。然而，我们不能从患者负有知情权义务这一事实推断出她没有不知情权。不知情权是在正式的机构层面针对医疗专业人员而言的。我们有理由保护患者对其所接收信息的控制权，即便在个别情况下患者以违反义务的方式行使这种控制权。
