Abstract
This paper briefly discusses the issues that involve the autonomy of patients with mental disorders. The level of mental faculties’ impairment may render their autonomy non-viable, since it hinders the conscious process of decision making. This circumstance is especially problematic when it comes to informed consent, since sometimes the ability to weigh the reported facts in order to decide on therapeutic alternatives is impaired due to the patient’s health condition.
Mental health; Bioethics; Informed consent; Personal autonomy; Personhood-Civil rights