Evidence-Based Medicine, Patient Autonomy and the Malaise of Modernity

Pekka Louhiala has doctoral degrees both in medicine (University Helsinki 1993) and philosophy (University of Wales, Swansea 2002). He is lecturer in medical ethics at the Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki and adjunct professor (docent) at the University of Tampere. He is also Associate Editor of Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy and President of the Finnish Society for Philosophy of Medicine.

Medicine, Patient Autonomy and the Malaise of Modernity

Enhanced patient autonomy is one of the most important advantages in health care during the past few decades. At the same time, cost-benefit analyses have become more and more central in medical decision-making both at the level of the individual and that of entire population. Both of these developments are reflections of a larger process in society. While there is no doubt that this process means progress in many areas, it has another side, which can be experienced as a decline. The aim of this project is to analyse how the malaises of modernity, as described by Charles Taylor, are manifested in contemporary medicine and health care.