Article

This perspective article provides a justification, with an overview, of the use
of phenomenological inquiry and the interpretation into the everyday ethical
concerns of patients with disabilities. Disability is explored as a
transformative process that involves physical, cognitive, and moral changes. This
perspective article discusses the advantages of phenomenology to supplement and
enhance the principlist process of ethical decision making that guides much of
contemporary medical practice, including physical therapy.
A phenomenological
approach provides a more contextual approach to ethical decision making through
probing, uncovering, and interpreting the meanings of "stories" of patients. This
approach, in turn, provides for a more coherent and genuine application of
ethical principles within the "textured life-world" of patients and their
evolving values as they grapple with disability to make ethical and clinical
decisions. The article begins with an in-depth discussion of the current
literature about the phenomenology of people with disability.
This literature
review is followed by a discussion of the traditional principlist approach to
making ethical decisions, which, in turn, is followed by a discussion of
phenomenology and its tools for use in clinical inquiry and interpretation of the
experiences of patients with disabilities. A specific case is presented that
illustrates specific tools of phenomenology to uncover the moral context of
disability from the perspective of patients. The article concludes with a
discussion of clinical, educational, and research implications of a
phenomenological approach to ethics and clinical decision making.

Langue : ANGLAIS