PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Tracey E Chan
AU  - Nicola S Peart
AU  - Jacqueline Chin
TI  - Evolving legal responses to dependence on families in New Zealand and Singapore healthcare
AID  - 10.1136/medethics-2012-101225
DP  - 2014 Dec 01
TA  - Journal of Medical Ethics
PG  - 861--865
VI  - 40
IP  - 12
4099  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/40/12/861.short
4100  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/40/12/861.full
SO  - J Med Ethics2014 Dec 01; 40
AB  - Healthcare decision-making has traditionally focused on individual autonomy, but there is now a change occurring in which the involvement of families is gaining prominence. This appears to stem from an increasing emphasis on relational aspects of autonomy which recognises the individual's connectedness to their family, and also state reliance upon families to share the burdens and costs of caring for elderly and disabled dependents. Such a reorientation calls for similar legal emphasis on patient autonomy as understood in relational terms, and one that offers more adequate conceptions of independence, confidentiality and decision-making authority in the light of this change. This paper outlines how two common law jurisdictions, New Zealand and Singapore, have accommodated, or are responding to, these changes.