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¶ … Medical Ethics
According to Ruddick, not all forms of giving up hope are rooted in despair. Sometimes allowing a patient to give up hope can be a compassionate response, such as when a terminally-ill patient enters palliative care. There is a distinction between being 'bereft' of hope and simply being without hope. Hope-giving can be seen as a violation of the principle of autonomy and acknowledging the lack of hope can be an important step forward in patients being able to make rational decisions about their health (Ruddick 346). Ruddick also criticizes self-deception, or the idea that the sufferer may delude him or herself into thinking his or her condition is better than it actually is in reality: allowing this does not seem congruent with the principle of autonomy, either.
The McCartney story illustrates an example of when physicians withhold information which they consider 'life-shattering' and would severely inhibit the...
Supposedly, Paul McCartney did not fully inform his wife of the extent of her illness so the couple could go on composing music together (Ruddick 348). However, this rationale seems odd: is it not possible that, given the knowledge that she was dying, Linda McCartney would have wanted to compose music even more? Also, what if she did not want to compose music but instead wanted to do other things with her life, given her knowledge that her time on earth was finite? It seems arrogant to make such a decision for the victim of a serious illness, no matter how well-intentioned the concept.
Medical deception is seldom used with a nefarious purpose and is designed to encourage the sufferer to focus on possibilities rather than probabilities, according to Ruddick (Ruddick 349). However, when relatives collude with physicians who engage in false hope-giving, this can create an entire environment around…
PATIENT & HEALTH PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVES Patient & Professional Perspectives Quality of care is a massive concern when it comes to healthcare in general. The issue is so multi-dimension and complicated. Even further, there are a lot of ideological bents and perspectives that further shape and form the issue as it exists today. A significant part of the paradigm mentioned above would be the perspectives of both patients and healthcare professionals as it
Repressed Memory At first glance, The Myth of Repressed Memory seems like it might be an offensive read that denigrates the experiences of millions of abuse and incest survivors. Yet according to Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham, the phenomenon of repressed memory is largely a myth. The authors' motives for writing The Myth of Repressed Memory seem noble enough on the surface: to retain the credibility of their professions and prevent
Life of Psychology Understanding and tolerance of the behavior of other people As a psychologist, I always do not do what I would like to do. My intended thoughts and behavior are blocked by the behavior of other people. I believe that my behaviors and thoughts are a result of various forces such as pushing and pulling me in different directions. However, I rarely apply the concept of reinforcement and I decry
Besides the growth of health consumerism has demanded more contractual and conflicting relations between patient and doctor. A growing well-educated population has started to challenge medical authority, and treat the doctor-patient relationships as another supplier-consumer relationship instead of a sacred trust based on awe and deference. A general tendency has been seen in steadily reducing trust in physicians and also American medical system as a whole. (The Doctor-Patient Relationship:
Whether someone views something as a placebo or not from a medical standpoint, if it improves the health and well-being of a patient then it is good for that patient, and good for the medical community as a whole (Ambrose, 2007). The second reason for the health care system to allow alternative medicine is that people believe in it in the same way that they believe in placebo pills if
The one question I have about my behavior was the fact that, as her advocate, I called and spoke to the patient's father with her permission. I stressed the fact that she was dying and if he wanted to see his daughter alive, he should come shortly. In retrospect, I wonder if I pressured her too much to make the call. Ultimately, it was all for naught, as she