Chapter 4 - Limitations of the individualistic conception of autonomy in population biobanking

Abstract

I argue that these shortcomings of individual autonomy transcend the clinical setting and have important implications for population biobanks. More concretely, I focus on two specific problems with individual autonomy in the population biobank setting. The first turns on how individual autonomy fails to recognize the complexities of benefit considerations in the research setting. The second, related to the first, considers how individual autonomy, with its unidirectional focus on the participant, is incapable of sustaining that same participant within the multilateral and complex relationships that involve the public and research community. Finally, this chapter will demonstrate that many of the proposed solutions to these shortcomings—namely deliberative autonomy, principled autonomy, and the duty to participate in research—do not resolve the limitations at issue. Relational autonomy, however, does represent a useful conception that could conceivably be adapted to the population biobank setting.