In cases of conflicting patient and doctor opinions, whose perspective should take precedence?

Stance

The competent patient's perspective should take precedence as the default rule in modern medical law; narrow, rule-bound exceptions apply (lack of capacity, unlawful/futile requests, and externalities to third parties).

Jurisdictional focus: UK/ECHR with selective US comparators. Word budget: 750.

Definitions

• Patient's perspective: The competent person's autonomous choice about interventions on their own body, made after material-risk disclosure and understanding of alternatives.
• Doctor's perspective: Professional clinical judgment about medical appropriateness, guided by duties of beneficence, non-maleficence, and fiduciary loyalty — not ultimate authority over values.
• Precedence: Whose decision is determinative when disagreement persists after proper counselling and disclosure.

These definitions tilt toward patient primacy by separating facts (doctor) from final values (patient).

Assumptions Under Challenge

My own assumption = that the patient has capacity and can consent.