The Importance Of Medical Emancipation In The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down?

1063 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Family values influence individual behavior

The parents played a significant role in “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”. They ultimately wanted what was best for their daughter however their idea of what proper treatment was did not always match with the doctor’s recommendations. Initially, the parents were allowed to be the official caretakers of their child. They brought her to the hospital when she needed medical attention, and brought her back home once she received treatment. However they were deemed “noncompliant” by the doctors at the hospital, when they failed to administer the proper dosages and medications to Lia at home. In the eyes of medical professionals they were ultimately harming their daughter and custody was taken away from them. They then no longer had the In My Sister’s Keeper Anna Fitzgerald unexpectedly sued her parents for medical emancipation. Medical emancipation is granted to a minor, where they are no longer restricted to the wishes of their parents and may make their own decisions regarding medical treatment. “If a minor receives medical emancipation, they will be able to decide what treatment they receive, how often they receive it and from whom the treatment is obtained. Medical emancipation takes away authority of the parents to be involved with medical matters relating to their children even if they are under the age of majority” (Hunter). Now, the reason Anna seeks medical emancipation is because her parents expect her to give up one of her kidneys for her older sister Kate. The reason she felt that she needed to appeal for medical emancipation is because her parents would always assume command in making their daughter’s medical decisions. They never gave Anna the choice to refuse the procedures. Anna’s forced cooperation brings about the ethical issue of whether a Parent always knows best. Anna had a right, and that right is the patient’s power to direct what happens to their body. Unfortunately, Anna was never consulted by physicians or parents before giving to Kate; there was no choice for her. The reason being her parents were desperate to control Kate’s fate and were biased towards saving Kate. The parents’ choices were not aligned with the wishes of Anna, but their own. Especially Sara [mother], who was deeply invested Kate’s well-being and made clouded judgments. When Sara decided for Anna to donate her kidney to Kate, she was only thinking of saving Kate for a few more years and not how Anna’s life would be affected by losing a kidney. Therefore Sara should not be given authority over Anna’s medical treatments. When a parent, like Sara, begins to act on their own selfish desires,

Show More
Related

  • Patient Autonomy Case Study

    1163 Words  | 3 Pages

    Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political, and bioethical reasoning. Inside these connections, it is the limit of a sound individual to make an educated, unpressured decision. Patient autonomy can conflict with clinician autonomy and, in such a clash of values, it is not obvious which should prevail. (Lantos, Matlock & Wendler, 2011). In order to gain informed consent, a patient

    Read More

  • The Strange Case of Marlise Munoz and John Peter Smith Hospital

    1005 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many ethical paradigms through which humans find guidance and justification for their own actions. In the case of contractarianism, citizens of a state are entitled to human rights, considered to be unalienable, and legal rights, which are both protected by the state. As Spinello says, “The problem with most rights-based theories is that they do not provide adequate criteria for resolving practical disputes when rights are in conflict” (14). One case that supports Spinello is the case of Marlise Munoz, a brain-dead pregnant thirty-three year old, who was wrongly kept on life support for nearly two months at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. Misinterpretation of the Texas Advance Directives Act by John Peter Smith Hospital led to the violation of the contractarian paradigm. Although the hospital was following the directive in order to maintain legal immunity for its hospital staff, the rights of the family were violated along with the medical fundamental principle to “first, do no harm.”

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Daddy's Apprentice By Sandy Wilson

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    There were no other people besides the family that knew about what was going on, so there was no opportunity for anyone to step in and help. The family kept the secrets of what was going on and it seemed as though they suffered from Family Systems Theory where “it is the family's reaction to an event, or their ability to cope in an emotionally stable manner (Opipari, 2010, pp. 125) that determines how they function. There was no balance, there was no speaking on their emotions, so this limited any option for intervention coming from the or outside their family.

    Read More

  • Mrs. Boswell’s Dilemma

    1185 Words  | 3 Pages

    The ethical principle of nonmaleficence demands to first do no harm and in this case protect the patient from harm since she cannot protect. Nurses must be aware in situations such as this, that they are expected to advocate for patients in a right and reasonable way. The dilemma with nonmaleficence is that Mrs. Boswell has no chance of recovery because of her increasing debilitating mental incapability and the obvious harm that outweighs the intended benefits. If the decision were to continue treatment, suffering of the patient and family would be evident. Autonomy is the right to making own decisions and freedom to choose a plan of action. When making decisions regarding treatment of another person, it is important to respect the expressed wishes of the individual. John says that his mother would want to live as long as she could, but questions arise related to her quality of life and perception of prolonged suffering by prolonging the dying process. In BOOK states that quality of life changes throughout one’s life ...

    Read More

  • The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down Analysis

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman, the whole story revolves around Lia, the thirteenth child of Lee family. Lee family was a refugee family in USA and Lia was their first child to be born in US. At the time of time of birth, she was declared as a healthy child but at the age of three it was founded that she is suffering from epilepsy. In the words of western or scientific world the term epilepsy mean mental disorder of a person and in Hmong culture, epilepsy is referred to as qaug dab peg (translated in English, "the spirit catches you and you fall down"), in which epileptic attacks are perceived as evidence of the epileptic's ability to enter and journey momentarily into the spirit realm (Wikipedia, 2014)

    Read More

  • Katy Crisis Case Studies

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    The denial of child care for her two children’s has added fear, helplessness, hopelessness, loss, of control and guilt which impacts Katy health and contributed to worsening of her health. Katy was experiencing a situational crisis because of her medical condition and her concern to provide for her children. It occurs when an individual produces an overwhelming response as they confronted with a stressful event. Factors that contribute to Katy crisis are high demand to provide for her children, denial of child care services, medical condition, and a single parent. These factors play a critical role in her health outcome and progression of her disease and psychological state.

    Read More

  • Family Stone Conflict Theory

    1838 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Stone children find out that their mom is dying in the movie, which is a family crisis. The book states that the death of a parent is second on the severity of life stressor with only the death of a child above it. (Lauer, 2012, pg 290) The Stone family shows they are a resilient family and have developed this label from communicating well and have worked together to develop strengths that help them deal with stressors. (Lauer, 2012, pg 302) None of the family members avoid the problem or try to find blame in something or someone for their mom dying. Avoiding the problem and finding blame in others are two ineffective coping strategies that some individuals use. Avoidance can make individuals ignore the problem and turn to excessive drinking to help keep the problem off their mind. Scapegoating is when the individual acknowledges that there is a problem, but they turn on someone else and put the blame on him or her. The Stone family learns to cope with the crisis of their mom being sick in a way that brings them closer. They balance their concern with the concern of their mother and they work together to make a happy Christmas for her. They all realize it is hard to deal with there mom being sick, but they know that together they can handle it and they know their own worth and the worth of their family. In conclusion, the family realized the problem and worked

    Read More

  • Cultural Barriers Increase with Negative Biases

    1519 Words  | 4 Pages

    The cultural barrier between the Lee’s and the doctors was result of their negatives assumptions about each other. Both parties believed that their own treatment was the best way to help Lia deal with her epilepsy. As a result of their inability to look past their own perspectives and remain in their own spheres they moved further away towards a mutual understanding. It is usually harder to trust someone when you already have negative assumptions about them, making the trusting each other near to impossible. If the doctors and parents look passed these assumptions and looked at the situation through an untainted perspective then they would have had better chances of having respect for each other in the beginning.

    Read More

  • The Code of Ethics for Professional Nurses

    1265 Words  | 3 Pages

    Autonomy means that an individual has the right to make choices about their life (Burkhardt et al., 2014). Any individual of legal age with full mental capacity has the right to refuse treatment. The individual’s choice must be respected even if it is not what the healthcare provider has recommende...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Christine Mitchell's When Living Is A Fate Worse Than Death

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    Charlotte’s parents thought otherwise, the Ethics Advisory Committee had to get involved. The debate surrounded if the doctors were in the right to control the life of someone who were incapable of deciding themselves, or is it the parents right. The Ethics Advisory Committee, stated that the parents were superior to those of the hospital and the hospital should conduct with less painful test. Charlotte’s parents wanted the doctors to continue testing until it was determined that her life diffidently had no chance of remaining. Because, of Charlotte’s parents’ desires unfortunately caused Charlotte to die a painful death without her parents. If the patient is unable to speak for their selves, the family should be able to have some say in the medical treatment, however; if the doctors have tried everything they could do, the hospital should have final decisions whether or not the patient dies or treatment

    Read More

  • Ethical Issues

    925 Words  | 2 Pages

    Advance directives can become ethical issues especially when a family attempts to enforce their opinions on healthcare instead of what a patient had requested in a living will. Advance directives, sometimes called a living will, are legal documents that allow an individual to spell out your decisions about end-of-life care ahead of time (MedlinePlus, 2014). A living will address which treatments an individual wants if he or she is dying or permanently unconscious (MedlinePlus, 2014). People impacted by this situations was the patient, the patient’s daughter, and all the patient...

    Read More

  • Cultural Anthropology Essay

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a ethnography written by Anne Fadiman. The first chapter of the book introduces readers to the cultural conflict between American doctors and Hmong by describing in detail the aspects of birth in both cultures. Heavy emphasis is placed on how the Hmong deal with placentas and their baby naming ceremony. Many details behind the Hmong culture rise and naturally this leads to conflict. Baby Lia begins to develop epilepsy and her parents take this as a symbol of divinity while the doctors at the nearby hospital, MERCED, only look at it as a disease. As doctors continue to try and prescribe medicine to reduce the amount of seizures the parents continued to reject it. They believed the

    Read More

  • Negligence and Injustice in Healthcare: A Personal Account

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    Malpractice, negligence, and injustice are words that hold great meaning in today’s healthcare system. More than likely, these are the words my mother wishes that she could have uttered during her time of inattentive care. My mother underwent countless rounds of chemotherapy when she was pregnant with me because of a very rare cancer called Burkett’s Lymphoma. This caused for her to birth me at only six months of gestation. The doctor told her that she would have to choose between my life and hers. Like any mother that loves her child, she chose to let me live because she felt as though she had lived her life. Why would a mother ever have to make this decision when preventive measures could have been taken? How is it that a licensed obstetrician-gynecologist (ob/gyn) can continue to practice medicine when they are not effectively taking care of their patients? Whether it’s one or one hundred, every patient deserves the best care from any healthcare professional! My mother’s ob/gyn discovered that my mother had the admonition of cancer when she was

    Read More

  • Healthcare Ethical Issues

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    The delivery of healthcare mandates a lot of difficult decision making for healthcare providers as well as patients. For patients, much of the responsibility is left to them especially when serious health problems occur. This responsibility deals with what treatments could be accepted, what treatments could be continued, and what treatments could be stopped. Overall, it considers what route should be taken in regards to the health interests of the patient. However, there are circumstances in which patients cannot decide for themselves or communicate what they want in terms of their healthcare. This is where the ethical issue concerning who should be responsible for making these important healthcare decisions occur if a patient was to be in this sort of situation. Healthcare providers can play a role in the healthcare decision making as their duty is to act in the best interest of the patient.

    Read More

  • Moral Morality And Morality

    1093 Words  | 3 Pages

    They did not follow through with what the parents ask because a Florida law states you can’t remove organs until the donor is dead. Although it would be sad to kill Baby Theresa to give her organs away, I would agree with her parents and physicians because she does not have long to live and will never be conscious so why not take the good organs and give them to another baby that could live. Ethicist disagreed with the parents and the physician because they said “it’s wrong to use people as means to other people’s ends”, they are saying by taking her organs you would be using her to help other people 's children. When you’re using somebody it means to violate their autonomy, Baby Theresa has no autonomy so there’s no way to violate it. People can’t always decide for themselves, when she could not decide for herself you need to think “what would be in her best interest?” either way Baby Theresa would die so there’s really not a best interest for her. Ethicists also said “it 's wrong to kill one person to save another”, if you killed Baby Theresa to

    Read More

More about The Importance Of Medical Emancipation In The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down?

Open Document