Patient vulnerability and exploitation

Chapter 4 explores what it means to be vulnerable, engaging with Fineman's universal vulnerability theory. We reject a starting point of universal vulnerability, advocating potential vulnerability as the place from which to begin a relational analysis, with illness or feared ill-health being a situation which can make anyone more vulnerable to exploitation. We argue that autonomy must be enhanced and restored alongside recognising vulnerability to address susceptibility to exploitation. We then explore how autonomy and vulnerability can be recognised in practice in medical research, before applying our account of vulnerability to cosmetic surgery in the private health care context.