Dr. Benitz, Chief Neonatal Physician At Stanford University

I think that after reading the story my definitions of what describes a good doctor and good parent have adjusted to become somewhat synonymous with what I would imagine Fadiman’s descriptions would be. At the very least I would imagine that both of us would agree that a good parent is one that puts the best interest of the child at the forefront of every decision concerning them – whether this includes health concerns or not. Similarly it follows that a good doctor is one that does everything possible to help his or her patient. This includes spending time with the patient in a capacity larger than just tests and prescriptions.

When asked what trait a physician bears in the 21st century, most would agree with compassion. Pierre Elias author of the narrative essay, “Insensible Losses: When The Medical Community Forgets The Family”, argues that physicians may be compassionate when it comes to their patients, but “lack a systematic approach to communicating with families when a patient’s health deteriorates unexpectedly, requiring a change in care providers” (Elias 707). Pierre Elias is a medical student from Duke University. He is nearing the end of his clinical rotations when he is forced by his inner moral conscience to deliver difficult news to a patient’s family whom no other physician makes time for.

“An ethical dilemma exists when a choice has to be made in which the consequences may have a potential positive or negative outcome.”("Topic 4: Contemporary Ethical Dilemmas (How do managers evaluate beginning-of-life dilemmas?). ", n.d.) The given scenario presents a patient named Jamilah Shah, who is of Turkish descent, 90 years old and collapsed at the side of her bed in the extended care facility in which she resides. The patient suffers from Chronic Pulmonary disease and diabetes mellitus. The patient was rushed to the ER were the EKG and lab tests revealed she suffered a heart attack and she was started on anticoagulants. The patient has no advance directives and a communication barrier exists, the ER department contacts the emergency contact, one of the patient 's sons Bashir. The patient 's family arrives at the hospital and her son states that he makes the decisions and the wants a do not resuscitate order for his mother and no medical intervention other than comfort care. The social worker handling Jamilahs case is concerned by her family 's lack of support and that the family 's wishes are at odds with the patient 's request for help and her expressed desire to live. Furthermore if the patient does not receive a cardiac catheterization or is considered for a coronary bypass, she will surely die.

Therefore, although I do not wish for my effectiveness to be judged based on the factors that Dr. Ofri discusses in Finding a Quality Doctor like blood pressure rates, or diabetes rate, practicing in a hospital means I likely will to some degree (Ofri). On the other hand, one of the principle factors of running a business is keeping their consumers happy. Therefore, within my practice, I will rely heavily on patient reviews, of which I will have them complete after each visit. I work best by hearing others’ critiques me thus; a patient’s voice will be imperative in my practice to help me make a better experience for them. Another factor to ensuring maximal patient satisfaction in a perfect world, is making sure that my patients’ have a significant ability to choose their course of care. Patient satisfaction and choice are factors that has repeatedly come up in my experience within New Visions, abroad, and at Bellevue. In our society, birth is often highly medicalized, filled with intervention. If it is taking too long for a mother to become fully dilated, then doctors are quick to prescribe Pitocin. If there is the slightest sign of danger, then doctors push for a C-section. In high school, I remember learning from my New Visions preceptor that nearly one in

Angela Carder was diagnosed with a terminal lung tumor when she was 25 weeks pregnant. She was admitted to the hospital where she decided against a caesarean section but for comfort medications and hospice for herself. This case shows how Carder’s own rights were ignored while the physicians, hospital administration, and the courts fought over the conflict between maternal and fetal rights. The result was an important step in the legal process that not only secured, but also clarified, the rights of pregnant women (Murphy, n.d., p. 49-52).

In the case of the 18-year-old female who refuses to have a C-section in order to save the life of the baby the first action that I would take is I would ask an ethics consult to talk to her about the situation. If after talking to the ethics consult she still refuses to have the C-section I would talk to members of the hospital to see if there is anything that we can do in order to save the life of the baby. I believe that the pregnant girl in this case should not be allowed to refuse the C- section because this can potentially harm her and the baby. After carefully evaluating all the options and talking to members of the hospital, we should evaluate the mental statues of the female because there might be something that has triggered her to

A patient could feel pressured in terminating the pregnancy because the physician is only providing certain information. The physician would thus be in a way coercing the patient to make a certain choice in terms of the selective abortion, consequently altering a patient’s autonomy. For anyone that is considering selective abortion concerning their pregnancy, “professionals themselves must know far more than they now do about life with disability and must convey more information and different information, than they now typically provide” (1654). According to Asch, physicians typically perceive that a disability is most likely going to be viewed as an undesirable trait and that they are granting a service to their patients, and acting in accordance to their beneficence, in providing prenatal testing to detect any disabilities. In addition to that potential scenario, there could be conflict and tension where the physician feels that the patient is making an unethical decision in choosing to selectively terminate their pregnancy. While the patient does possess autonomy that allows them to choose to selectively terminate their pregnancy, it may be against the views of the physician. The physician could potentially feel that they personally have a duty of beneficence to the unborn child concerning the child’s disabilities, where they wish to help the child once it is born. Overall, there are many different situations where prenatal testing and selective abortion could cause many different types of tensions and issues in regards to a physician-patient

Here is a case in Florida that started a huge up roar involving the rights of a pregnant woman and her fetus. She was forced into medical treatment that was against her will. In addition to the issues that arose with the court order, there are concerns within the medical community with the role that the physician played with the patients’ refusal and judicial intervention.

In the first commentary by Etzioni and Rosenfeld, they argue that this case and cases similar should be handled not as the assumed respect for patient autonomy first but should be handled based on the benefit and well-being of the patient. Throughout the argument they often explain how patient care should be based on “beneficence” and “nonmaleficence” before autonomy especially in cases where the patient cannot speak for themselves. They support this idea by mentioning the, “Do Not Harm” principle and by explaining that after being put in his current situation, Mr. Jackson might choose the feeding tube over death. Although generally in health care situations it is assumed by many that allowing the patient to make their own decisions independently,

This meeting is called to review the VRMC’s question and its relation to the Pediatric Manager Martha McGuire, “What does RIGHT look like”?

In the present case the parents of the child are Muslims, members of the Nation of Islam, who firmly believed in the power of Allah and also believed that Allah would intervene if it was his will, and that it was the physicians’ job to give Allah that opportunity. They know this because it is written in their scriptures but the attending doctors of the patient may not believe of the things that the parents said because they might not be

In the medical field, it is the responsibility of the doctor to promote the health of his or her patient. Often, Doctors run across Ethical Dilemma which is when a decision that has to be made is not clear. Doctor T gets a visit from Jeff R who is diagnosed with the flu and believes a antibiotic will help his case. Doctor T knows that antibiotics will not help Jeff, and recommends other remedies such as; fluid intake, sleep and over the counter drugs. Jeff R denies her advice, and she considers prescribing him an antibiotic. On one hand an antibiotic will help him psychologically be more at ease and may not do him harm, but an overdose of the antibiotic will cause resistance of other antibiotics. The dilemma Doctor T is facing is the comfort

April 9, 1982, an unidentified infant known as Baby Doe was born in Bloomington, Indiana. Sadly, not even a week old, Baby Doe died an unfair death making an impact on the medical field forever. This case has changed the way medical professionals are judged, seen, and taught, with new laws being created and existing laws being reinforced for infants and children with disabilities. The Baby Doe case really impacted everyone who heard the story because it is very emotionally mixed with many controversies, most of which are facts and ed bias opinions all leading up to what caused history in its making. The government, president, physicians, and doctors were so involved they went to trial to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. President

The medical considerations often rely on moral and ethical issues, but the health care problems that may occur with the woman or fetus should also be brought to discussion. For instance, some women may have mental problems that require administration of specific medications, which impair the fetus and jeopardize its future functioning and health. Another reason for induced abortions, even after the first trimester, may include fetal anomalies. As stated by Bryant, Grimes, Garrett, and

The patient and her family including the husband remained adamant that she would not accept blood products or a cesarean section even though it was the best option for the survival of both the fetus and herself. She stated that she would rather die than accept blood products. Her family contacted religious leaders who also came to the hospital to support the patient and her family’s decision of refusing blood products.