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A clash of traditions? An investigation into judicial interpretations of autonomy in ethically-contentious medical cases
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Bratton, M. Q. (Mark Q.) (2012) A clash of traditions? An investigation into judicial interpretations of autonomy in ethically-contentious medical cases. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b2612541~S1
Abstract
The concept of autonomy has acquired paramount status in English medical law, medical
ethics and philosophy. Using the methodology of grounded theory, and three iterative
cycles of enquiry of the medical law reports and the literature, this thesis investigates
how and why judges use and interpret autonomy in ethically-contentious medical law
cases. Each cycle of enquiry reveals its internal limitations, prompting further
engagement with the data in order to overcome those limitations and deepen the level of
understanding and explanation.
The first cycle of empirical enquiry describes variation in judicial usage of the autonomy
concept in the law reports but gives way to a second cycle of hermeneutical enquiry in
order to advance understanding of what judges mean in their use of it. Concurrent
analysis of the literature on autonomy reveals a progressive development from a partial
view of autonomy as body and mind towards an emerging holistic concept as the identity
and capability of the person. The failure of hermeneutical enquiry to explain judicial
variations in meaning and interpretation leads to a third cycle of enquiry based on critical
realist analysis, examining the underlying social structures and traditions that may
influence judicial variations in usage. Using MacIntyre’s concept of tradition, and
Brandom’s tools of inferential analysis, the thesis explores whether the law reports
reveal the influence on judicial usage of traditions of legal rationality – common law,
statute law, and European human rights law – and whether these legal traditions are
influenced by wider traditions of moral and political order.
The emergent theory of the research, developed through the iterative cycles of enquiry of
the data is that judges have developed a community of practice which has over time
elaborated a sophisticated ethical language of autonomy to mediate the influence of
different legal traditions and, in so doing, has constituted a new practice of medical
jurisprudence.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | R Medicine > R Medicine (General) | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Medical ethics -- Case studies, Decision making -- Moral and ethical aspects, Medical care -- Law and legislation, Autonomy (Psychology) | ||||
Official Date: | April 2012 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Warwick Medical School | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Slowther, Anne; Parker, Andrew, 1965- | ||||
Extent: | xxv, 336 leaves. | ||||
Language: | eng |
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