Project leader: Prof. Silke Schicktanz, Inst. of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, University Medical Center Goettingen
Research Fellows: Dr. Isabella Jordan, Katharina Lüttich, M.A.

This project is dedicated to patient associations as subjects of collective autonomy in bioethical and health policy decision-making processes from a social philosophic and medical ethical point of view. Trust and autonomy are interdependent mechanisms of internal and external legitimacy of collective agents. On the one hand, possibilities and limits of collective autonomy of patient associations regarded as stakeholders are explored on a theoretical conceptual as well as on an empirical basis. On the other hand, the role of trust as to internal decision-making processes and communication as well as the external representation of interests via representatives is investigated from a descriptive and a normative stance.