Many individuals are in denial about their health as a result they do not take responsibility for their health. These individuals rather have a doctor tell them that their condition is hereditary opposed to blatantly honest responses such as “Stop smoking.” or “Change your eating habits.” which imply that the individual is at fault. An article on the blog ‘Medical Malprocess’, outlines the responsibility of doctor and patient by stating that: “The providers should be held responsible for their advice and actions only. We patients should be responsible for the consequences of our decisions and actions.” This shows that while doctors may be responsible in a patient’s health that patient is also considered responsible for their actions or decisions that may have caused or worsened their condition. The blog farthest outlines and illustrates these responsibilities by giving examples such as; a regularly smoker should be responsible for getting lung cancer as this increasing their chances. However a non-smoker’s actions should not be accused if they got lung cancer.
Doctors can only do so much; in order to be healthy one has to work along with their doctor by keeping up with preventative methods to help one’s health opposed to taking several pills per day for heart disease while continuously eating poorly. However, this partnership between patient and doctor must be met with tedious planning taking the patient’s whole lifestyle into prospective, from their religious to personal beliefs. Pride must be set aside by both partners, as they make negotiable compromises before consigning on this health plan. Doctor Danielle Ofri; writes in her article ‘Doctor Priorities vs. Patient Priorities’ that doctors view a patient’s medical condition ...
... middle of paper ...
...dge about health or cannot obtain healthier options for meals.
Works Cited
“Is There Personal Responsibility In Healthcare?” Medical Malprocess. 4 March, 2009. Web.19 April, 2014. < http://thesystemmd.com/?p=230 >
Jauhar Sandeep M.D. “No Matter What, We Pay for Others’ Bad Habits.” New York Times. 29 March, 2010. Web.18 April, 2014. < http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/health/30risk.html?_r=0 >
Ofri Danielle M.D. “Doctor Priorities vs. Patient Priorities.” New York Times. 27 March , 2014. Web. 18 April, 2014 < http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/doctor-priorities-vs-patient-priorities/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 >
Murphy Tom. “Millons of Americans may still go without health insurance.” 19 June, 2012. Web. 20 April, 2014. < http://www.nbcnews.com/id/47876329/ns/health-health_care/t/millions-americans-may-still-go-without-health-insurance/#.U1WzLPldWSo >
When we see patients, we must remember that we are not simply treating a disease. We are caring for people with lives, hobbies, jobs, families, and friends, who are likely in a very vulnerable position. We must ensure that we use the status of physicians to benefit patients first and foremost, and do what we promised to when we entered the profession: provide care and improve quality of life, and hopefully leave the world a little better than it was
Goldman presents the patient’s ranking value as fixed and decided with no ability to change. In actuality, a patient’s ranking of different values can change depending on the circumstances. It is clear that when a patient goes to visit the doctor, they are ranking their health over other concepts because, at that point in time, their health has become their primary concern and they want to preserve it so they can continue to enjoy their other liberties.
Gedge, E., & Waluchow, W. (2012). Readings in health care ethics (2nd ed.). Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Press.
Patient autonomy was the predominant concern during the time of publication of both Ezekiel and Linda Emanuel, and Edmund D. Pellegrino and David C. Thomasma's texts. During that time, the paternalistic model, in which a doctor uses their skills to understand the disease and choose a best course of action for the patient to take, had been replaced by the informative model, one which centered around patient autonomy. The latter model featured a relationship where the control over medical decisions was solely given to the patient and the doctor was reduced to a technical expert. Pellegrino and Thomasma and the Emanuel’s found that the shift from one extreme, the paternalistic model, to the other, the informative model, did not adequately move towards an ideal model. The problem with the informative model, according to the Emanuel’s, is that the autonomy described is simple, which means the model “presupposes that p...
Wilson , James G. S., “Rights”, Principles of Health Care Ethics, Second Edition, eds. R.E. Ashcroft, A. Dawson, H. Draper and J.R. McMillan. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 2007. pp. 239.
Medical malpractice has become a controversial social issue. From a doctor’s standpoint, decisions and preventative actions can alter the medical malpractice lawsuits filed against them. In order to protect their career and professional life medical malpractice insurance is available. Medical professional liability insurance, sometimes known as medical malpractice insurance, is one type of professional liability insurance. “Professional liability refers to liability that arises from a failure to use due care and the standard of care expected from a person in a particular profession, in this case a doctor, dentist, nurse, hospital or other health-related organization” (Brandenburg, 2014).
Denise Dudzinski, PhD, MTS, Helene Starks, PhD, MPH, Nicole White, MD, MA (2009) ETHICS IN MEDICINE. Retrieved from: http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/pad.html
Providers must act in the best interest of the patient and their basic obligation is to do no harm and work for the public’s wellbeing. A physician shall always keep in mind the obligation of preserving human life. Providers must communicate full, accurate and unbiased information so patients can make informed decisions about their health care. As a result of their recommendations, providers are responsible for generating costs in health care but do not generate the need for those expenses. Every hospital has both an ethical as well as a legal responsibility to provide care, even if the care may be uncompensated.
Truth in medicine is a big discussion among many medical professionals about how doctors handle the truth. Truth to a patient can be presented in many ways and different doctors have different ways of handling it. Many often believe that patient’s being fully aware of their health; such as a bad diagnosis, could lead to depression compared to not knowing the diagnosis. In today’s society doctor’s are expected to deliver patient’s the whole truth in order for patients to actively make their own health decisions. Shelly K. Schwartz discusses the truth in her essay, Is It Ever Ok to Lie to Patients?. Schwartz argument is that patients should be told the truth about their health and presented and addressed in a way most comfortable to the patient.
Westrick, S. (2013). Legal and Ethical Issues in Healthcare. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Martin, B. (2002). Promoting a balance between personal health and professional responsibility. Chart, 99(5), 4-5.
In his essay, “The Refutation of Medical Paternalism,” Alan Goldman discusses his argument against differentiation in the roles between physicians and patients. He says the physician may act against a patient’s will in order treat the patient in their best interest. Goldman makes his whole argument around the assumption that a person’s right to decide his or her future is the most important and fundamental right, saying, “the autonomous individual is the source of those other goods he enjoys, and so is not to be sacrificed for the sake of them.” His claim is that most people agree that they are the best judges of their own self-interest and there is an innate value in the freedom to determine their own future. On these principles, Goldman starts by discussing conditions under which paternalism may be justified.
Although health insurance can be beneficial because providers get paid for the services they provide to the patient the insurance premiums and deductibles are in many instances way more than many families across the United States can afford. With these extremely high costs for insurance statics show that over 40 million families’ can’t afford or have access to needed health care systems. “It shows that one-fifth of Americans couldn 't afford one or more of these services: medical care, prescription medicines, mental health care, dental care, or eyeglasses (R...
Steinbock, Bonnie, Alex J. London, and John D. Arras. "The Principles Approach." Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine. Contemporary Readings in Bioethics. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. 36-37. Print.
Over the centuries, physicians have in fact been allowed to interfere with a patients wants and decisions and even overrule them for the sake of promoting the patient with the best outcome. But in recent years, there has been a great increase in the emphasis placed on individual control and freedom, and therefore ethicists have argued against most forms of medical paternalism. They think that it is wrong for physicians to impose their own values on their patients, and they think it is wrong for physicians to make an actual decision for the patient. Ethicists think this is wrong because acting paternalistically doesn’t show respect for the patient’s autonomy or value their opinion. My response to this statement, is no, medical paternalism is