ABSTRACT
Autonomy is a very fashionable word these days in philosophic circles, although it is almost inevitably used in discussions of decision making and informed consent. However, autonomy as a concept reaches far beyond that. Autonomy invariably encompasses action as a member of a society, as a sexual being, as a personality, as a family member, indeed, action in every aspect of personhood. Persons behave as persons only by performing certain acts. Cassell suggest that most suffering derives from the inability to control the actions that usually define one's person. Cassell's patient was fully informed about her illness and participated in decisions all along the way, but she was not able to function as a person, she was no longer autonomous. It is his thesis that the medical profession has many opportunities to restore lost autonomy, but patient seem to miss them all. In some cases, autonomy can be restored to a patient by information alone.
