A patient is a human being. Illness disturbs biological, social, psychological elements that make the patient human. The focus of this paper is to make the argument that the biopsychosocial model provides the most effective foundation for treating patient as a complete person, physically and psychologically, in the management of a disease with focus on five aspects: patient’s experience of illness, physician-patient communication, proficiency of end of life care, medical ethics and spiritual growth. This position will be corroborated by the film “Wit (Nichols & Brokaw, 2002)” through the end-stage palliative character Vivian Bearing's revelation that the practice of medicine is a complex combination of human empathy with the severities of …show more content…
Dr. Bearing grows spiritual near the end of life and finds the meaning in her life and is forced to accept that her physical body will cease to exist. As the illness progresses Dr. Bearing begins to become kinder, a change from her rigid, unforgiving personality. As she has reflected on key moments in her life she realizes that science does not comfort her as much as the compassion she is shown by Nurse Susie. During the end stage of her cancer, mentally and physically weak, Vivian Bearing sees her life as more than being a scholar when she reflects that, at this point in her life scholarly wit is not as important as human kindness. Bearing recognizes, in the end, the limits of academic pursuits and Holy Sonnets, that human being instead require the warmth of kindness. She forgoes poetry by John Donne to find comfort in a children’s book about kindness and compassion (Nichols & Brokaw, 2002). Bearings experience of illness that includes suffering: physical, emotional, social, and spiritual components has changed her from the independent, hard women she was prior to the illness. Factor into Bearing’s journey that could have supported her throughout her journey if her medical team had a competent end of life care suited for …show more content…
Dr. Kelekian’s failed to communicate to his patient using language that was clear, instead used medical jargon to deliver the news that Bearing was dying. He did not provide her support or allow her time to think about her decision to enter in his research study and he did not take the time throughout her illness to understand where her frame of mind was during her stages of the disease. Dr. Jason Poser a researcher under Dr. Kelekian and a one-time student of Bearing, is just as focused in research and remiss in his clinician duties. Bearing’s medical team, did not discuss end of life preferences and treated her as a body to experiment on. Bearing experiences increased fear and anxiety over the treatment and her future. Instead of her medical team the discussion of options for end of life has been left to Nurse Susie. The decision to revive Bearing should her heart stop also provides Nurse Susie with the responsibility, with Kelekian and Poser once again neglecting her needs. The decisions about the end of life for their patient will directly impact the research and to revive the patient would keep the trial going, but, at the cost of a human being with unheard wishes being ignored. The thoughtlessness of Poser is obvious in the following interaction with Bearing, “What do you say when a patient is apprehensive and
Michael is a 56 year old male who lives alone in a small tin shed in the middle of the bush in central Queensland. He has no children, no partner and lives by himself. During the day he spends his time sleeping on the couch or doing chores around the property. If he isn’t asleep, he requires a stimuli to remain occupied. When he was a young boy, he was a very calm child with a great sense of humour. His physical health was perfect with good energy levels. When he was sexually abused at the age of 8, by his grandfather, these characteristics started to change. From the age of 16 he was having regular breakdowns in his thinking and emotional responses. Michael was constantly feeling irritable and having trouble sleeping with frequent nightmares. As the years went by his attitude was extremely negative which led on to him being withdrawn from his family and friends. During his last year of high school, he started to regularly use marijuana. He would experience countless amounts of paranoia episodes where he would hear voices and thought he was being spied on. At the age of 45 he was fin...
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. The book states that quality of life changes throughout one’s life and experiences.
Coping with her father's death is a struggle, yet Francie begins to live life again with the love of her family and by keeping herself preoccupied with other tasks.
Dr. Bearing, the protagonist of the play undergoes substantial changes in character before the end of the play. As discussed, the flashbacks show how unemotional Vivian was as a teacher. She, however, starts to notice the weaknesses in her character and makes changes to her character very friendly and sociable. This is facilitated by Jason, a doctor at the hospital who behaves the way she used to behave towards her students, and Susie, a nurse who is totally opposite to Jason in character. This change of character has been extensively used by the playwright to build her theme of redemption as Vivian is redeemed from arrogance and rudeness brought about by the excess value she attaches to intellect.
...ow point drives him to consider death as an alternative to suffering. This chapter helps to highlight some present day themes about the ethical issues of euthanasia such as the difference between active and passive euthanasia. Also whether or not a medical professional should assist in the process and under what circumstances. Discussion about euthanasia will probably continue in the future. This character brings some of the issues to light.
Thanks in part to the scientific and technological advances of todays’ society, enhanced medicinal treatment options are helping people battle illnesses and diseases and live longer than ever before. Despite these advances, however, many people with life threatening illnesses have needs and concerns that are unidentified and therefore unmet at the end of life, notes Arnold, Artin, Griffith, Person and Graham (2006, p. 62). They further noted that when these needs and concerns remain unmet, due in part to the failure of providers to correctly evaluate these needs, as well as the patients’ reluctance to discuss them (p. 63, as originally noted by Heaven & Maguire, 1997), a patient’s quality of life may be adversely affected. According to Bosma et al. (2010, p. 84), “Many generalist social work skills regarding counseling, family systems, community resources, and psychosocial assessments are relevant to working with patients and families with terminal illness”, thereby placing social workers in the distinctive position of being able to support and assist clients with end of life decisions and care planning needs. In fact, they further noted that at some point, “most social work practitioners will encounter adults, children, and families who are facing progressive life limiting illness, dying, death, or bereavement” (p. 79).
When it comes to a bad diagnosis it is often difficult for doctors to tell their patients this devastating news. The doctor will likely hold back from telling the patient the whole truth about their health because they believe the patient will become depressed. However, Schwartz argues that telling the patient the whole truth about their illness will cause depression and anxiety, but rather telling the patient the whole truth will empower and motivate the patient to make the most of their days. Many doctors will often also prescribe or offer treatment that will likely not help their health, but the doctors do so to make patients feel as though their may be a solution to the problem as they are unaware to the limited number of days they may have left. In comparison, people who are aware there is no cure to their diagnosis and many choose to live their last days not in the hospital or pain free from medications without a treatment holding them back. They can choose to live their last days with their family and will have more time and awareness to handle a will. Schwartz argues the importance of telling patients the truth about their diagnosis and communicating the person’s likely amount of time left as it will affect how the patient chooses to live their limited
It is generally accepted within healthcare that to understand mental health we must adopt the biopsychosocial model. This model assumes that an interdependent relationship exists between biological, psychological and social factors which are involved in all aspects of mental health (Toates, 2010, p. 14). To be true to the model research must be holistic and not investigate the factors in isolation.
The model of addiction etiology that best describes why people get addicted and how best to help them is biopsychosocial model. The biopsychosocial model, first developed by cardiologist Dr. George Engel, is today widely accepted by the mental health professions. The biopsychosocial model describes addiction as a brain illness that causes personality and social problems. The biopsychosocial model lets us to make solid and accurate differences between substance use, abuse, and dependence. It also allows the signs of addiction to be recognized and structured into progressive stages.
Schneider Keith, “DR. Jack Kevorkian Dies at 83; A Doctor who helped End Lives”. The New York Times. Arthur Sulzberger Jr. 3, June 2011. Online Newspaper 2014
Nurses are both blessed and cursed to be with patients from the very first moments of life until their final breath. With those last breaths, each patient leaves someone behind. How do nurses handle the loss and grief that comes along with patients dying? How do they help the families and loved ones of deceased patients? Each person, no matter their background, must grieve the death of a loved one, but there is no right way to grieve and no two people will have the same reaction to death. It is the duty of nurses to respect the wishes and grieving process of each and every culture; of each and every individual (Verosky, 2006). This paper will address J. William Worden’s four tasks of mourning as well as the nursing implications involved – both when taking care of patients’ families and when coping with the loss of patients themselves.
One of the many concerns is allowing incompetent individuals making this irreversible decision, which is why, “all have agreed that this end-of-life option should apply on to competent individual’s”(113). In addition, people opposed to this method argue that patients demanding this process are suffering from depression and not able to make decisions; yet, Rosenfled explains that practitioners most ensure that patients who consent to this medical intervention do it voluntarily, knowingly and
Diane was a patient of Dr. Timothy Quill, who was diagnosed with acute myelomonocytic leukemia. Diane overcame alcoholism and had vaginal cancer in her youth. She had been under his care for a period of 8 years, during which an intimate doctor-patient bond had been established. It was Dr. Quill’s observation that “she was an incredibly clear, at times brutally honest, thinker and communicator.” This observation became especially cogent after Diane heard of her diagnosis. Dr. Quill informed her of the diagnosis, and of the possible treatments. This series of treatments entailed multiple chemotherapy sessions, followed by a bone marrow transplant, accompanied by an array of ancillary treatments. At the end of this series of treatments, the survival rate was 25%, and it was further complicated in Diane’s case by the absence of a closely matched bone-marrow donor. Diane chose not to receive treatment, desiring to spend whatever time she had left outside of the hospital. Dr. Quill met with her several times to ensure that she didn’t change her mind, and he had Diane meet with a psychologist with whom she had met before. Then Diane complicated the case by informing Dr. Quill that she be able to control the time of her death, avoiding the loss of dignity and discomfort which would precede her death. Dr. Quinn informed her of the Hemlock Society, and shortly afterwards, Diane called Dr. Quinn with a request for barbiturates, complaining of insomnia. Dr. Quinn gave her the prescription and informed her how to use them to sleep, and the amount necessary to commit suicide. Diane called all of her friends to say goodbye, including Dr. Quinn, and took her life two days after they met.
About halfway through we begin to see her reflect on her past lectures and how she interacted with her students, we also begin to understand why Dr. The bearing has no visitors. We learn her father passed away at twenty-one and that her mother passed away from breast cancer. We see her spirits start to drop and her pain levels increase. She begins attempting to deny treatments. In the end, she is deteriorating rapidly up until the point that she passes away.
The subject of death and dying is a common occurrence in the health care field. There are many factors involved in the care of a dying patient and various phases the patient, loved ones and even the healthcare professional may go through. There are many controversies in health care related to death, however much of it roots from peoples’ attitudes towards it. Everyone handles death differently; each person has a right to their own opinions and coping mechanisms. Health care professionals are very important during death related situations; as they are a great source of support for a patient and their loved ones. It is essential that health care professionals give ethical, legal and honest care to their patients, regardless of the situation.