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Including Emotionality in Tests of Competence: How Does Neurodiversity Affect Measures of Free Will and Agency in Medical Decision Making?

Mackenzie, Robin, Watts, John (2011) Including Emotionality in Tests of Competence: How Does Neurodiversity Affect Measures of Free Will and Agency in Medical Decision Making? American Journal of Bioethics – Neuroscience, 2 (3). pp. 27-36. ISSN 2150-7740. (doi:10.1080/21507740.2011.580491) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:28179)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21507740.2011.580491

Abstract

Medical decision making by patients is respected as a lawful exercise of free will and agency unless patients are found to lack “competence.” Yet measures of competence in medical decision making typically assess only cognitive abilities. Emotionality is involved in decision making and may affect how far patients’ decisions to accept or refuse medical treatment embody free will. Moreover, neurodivergence, or atypical neurological makeup, is often diagnosed as neurodegeneration, neurodysfunction, neural damage, or neural difference and frequently leads to difficulties in considering the emotional aspects of decisions that standard tests do not measure or disclose. Neurodiversity activists assert that their neural differences are not pathologies to be treated or cured but are alternative ways of being that should be accepted as neuroequal. Nevertheless, who may claim to be neurodiverse is uncertain. We focus on atypical emotionality to consider the limits of neurodiversity in relation to measures of competence, particularly in relation to end-of-life decision making.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1080/21507740.2011.580491
Uncontrolled keywords: decision making, emotion, empathy, free will, law, neuroethics
Subjects: K Law
K Law > K Law (General)
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > Kent Law School
Depositing User: Jenny Harmer
Date Deposited: 21 Sep 2011 15:11 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:06 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/28179 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Mackenzie, Robin.

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