抄録
Recently in the field of health care in Japan, as in other countries, there is increasing number of people below that every person has a right to self-decision concerning health can, so that no medical intervention may be carried out without voluntary and informed consent. This argument is, of course, valid and persuasive, at last theoretical. However once we apply this principle to each and every case of health care, we immediately confront some difficulties. Because medical case has infinite variable, and in many cases we cannot forefully obtain free and informed consent. In the first half of this paper, we consider the theoretical and historical validity of the informed consent principle. In the second half, circumstances which make it difficult to take care of patients in accordance with the concept of informed consent will be pointed out.
