Though rights of self-medication needn’t change medical decision-making for most patients, rights of self-medication have the potential to transform other aspects of healthcare as it is currently practiced. For example, if public officials respected patient’s authority to make medical decisions without authorization from a regulator or a physician, then they should also respect patient’s authority to choose to use unauthorized medical devices and medical providers. And many of the same reasons in favor of rights of self-medication and against prohibitive regulations are also reasons to support patient’s rights to access information about pharmaceuticals, including pharmaceutical advertisements. Rights of self-medication may also call for revisions to existing standards of product liability and prompt officials to rethink justifications for the public provision of healthcare.
Strict versus Negligence Software Product Liability
