Care for the Person, Protection of Health and Respect for the will of the Patient in Italy: Support Administration as a Tool to Jointly Promote Health and Respect for Autonomy in Incompetent Patients.

Abstract

In Italy, advance health care directives are a subject of considerable debate in both legal theory and practice. This debate focuses in particular not only on the appropriateness of approving ad hoc statutory regulations but also on the extent to which similar advance indications of a person’s wishes are applicable under the existing legal system, albeit in the absence of a law regulating them. The authors of this paper consider, in particular, guidelines relating to the possible use of the mechanism of support administration (amministrazione di sostegno) (Law No. 6/2004) as a procedure to be used for the legal recognition of advance health care directives, particularly in the light of the legal provision for the possible designation in advance of a support administrator by a beneficiary in anticipation of an eventual situation of incapacity. This underlines how the concept of health does not only exist in the abstract, but must be measured in relation to the particular patient in the particular situation and how beneficence and respect for autonomy are both essential elements in the choices aimed at promoting the health and the wellbeing of its citizens.Significance for public healthThe concept of health includes not only the physical, but also the psychosocial dimension in accordance with the will of people. The reference to the personal concept of quality of life, values, ethical and religious opinions of each subject are key components underlying the decision-making process concerning a given patient in a given clinical condition: the concept of health does not only exist in the abstract, but must be measured in relation to the specific patient in the specific situation. The authors analyse the Italian debate about the possible designation in advance of the support administrator on the part of the beneficiary in anticipation of a potential situation of incapacity, as a tool to enforce advance care directives, to show how beneficence and respect for autonomy are both essential elements in the choices of the legal system aimed at promoting the health and the wellbeing of its citizens.