Foregoing Curative Medical Treatment

The patient that I interviewed is practicing Christian religion. He believes in the power of prayers and faith in God which according to him will help him become healthy again. He said that just like his brothers and sisters in prayers, only faith and trust in Jesus Christ can save him from illness. For him, his faith is more effective than any kind of medicine. He believes that life was a blessing given to him by God and that death is a natural fate of every living

incorporate religion in contrast to the baseline standard thought of health as a biomedical or

During the last week I have had the pleasure of interviewing several individuals about their beliefs and how those beliefs affect how they would anticipate their own needs in a healthcare setting. I found that I also learned a lot about each individual’s faith, how their faiths affected their daily lives and their worldviews. I conducted four interviews in the last week and I believe that I have captured a diverse cross section of view on faith and reality from these individuals.

In the United States all patients are granted certain rights and if denied these rights they can take legal action. Every individual has the right to participate in all aspects of their care (Pozgar, 2012). Patients must be informed by their care team of the risks, benefits, and alternatives to treatment. After that it is up to the patient to determine whether or not they want to forego treatment or not. “Failure to respect this right can result in legal action for assault and battery” (Pozgar,

Modern medical expertise has achieved remarkable achievements in lengthening the lives of humans. Ventilators can support a patient’s weakening lungs and pills can sustain that patient’s bodily processes. For those patients who have a genuine chance of surviving a sickness or accident, medical technology is science’s greatest gift to mankind. For the terminally ill, however, it is just a means of prolonging suffering. Medicine is supposed to alleviate the suffering that a patient undergoes. Yet the only thing that medical technology does for a dying patient is give that patient more pain and agony day after day and cause them to spend more money that could go to help their family after the patient passes away. Some terminal patients in the past have gone to their doctors and asked for a final medication that would take all the pain away— lethal drugs. For example, imagine a woman who was suffering from a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis, begged her doctor to assist her to die because she could no longer stand the pain. Another example is a lady with an inoperable brain

In this paper the author will explain what is faith and religion, and compare the philosophy of Sikh, Buddhism, and Jewish religions with that Christian and the author’s religion, include spiritual perspective and elements of healing, how necessary is to permit patient to practice their religious beliefs and rituals, and last, describe how this information could be incorporated into the daily health care professionals routine.

A conflicting question hospital patients often ask themselves when faced with terminal illness is: Is it worth living out the rest of my life? This question is an extremely controversial topic when it comes to deciphering the correct answer and has arguments in favor and against assisted suicide. Allen Roberts and Scott Redd, doctor and theologian, are strongly against this ideology and believe it is morally incorrect to allow physicians to give the independence of such an important decision to terminally ill individuals.

In the “Case Study: Healing and Autonomy”, there is Mike and Joanne, who are the parents of twin boys, James and Samuel. James contracted strep throat and ended up with one of the complications from this illness: acute glomerulonephritis. The acute glomerulonephritis subsequently caused acute kidney failure leading to further complications with James’ health. In addition to the stress of the illness, the parents are struggling on how to base their medical decisions based on their Christian faith. Using the Christian narrative and Christian vision there are several issues that will be explored throughout this paper. The issues include how Christians perceive illness and health, organ donation, and ethical and moral issues involving faith-based actions.

Different religious groups have different believe system in the provision of the healthcare. The health personnel such as doctors and nurses should be aware of the religious beliefs of their patients for effectively delivering medical care. In provision of medical care, religious faith and beliefs of the patient is incorporated with the scientific medical care in offering a holistic medical to the patients. The medical personnel should take into the consideration the religious belief of the patient in the course of offering medical care to the patient. The

cure. Hospitals not only have to meet the demands of curing illnesses, but also have to accommodate the spiritual needs and comfort of patients. Hospitals are generally built and organized in the effort to help patients gain support by having the opportunity to turn towards religion during difficult times. Hospitals in general have various religious leaders on call if a patient were to request them. They also have places of worship available to serve as a sanctuary for patients. These places are equipped with sacred texts from different religions such as the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita and the Holy Bible. As described in the article, “Sacred spaces in public places: religious and spiritual plurality in health care”, “These spaces evoked a feeling of sacredness of space and time – a sense of transcendence, immanence or connectedness in the everyday” (Reimer-Kirkham 203). This tranquil feeling can help to relieve the stress of the body, being proved to help the bodies process of healing, or in the case of terminally ill patients, helps them to develop a more positive outlook on what is happening. They are able to turn towards religion as support for the difficult time.

In this paper I will be discussing the role of the chaplain in the health care system, importance of collaboration between chaplains and health care professionals, discussion on ethics, and the roles that spirituality, culture and religion play in positive health outcomes. The occupation of a chaplain comes with many different roles. Their duties include comforting, listening, and being a guide as patients travel through a world of emotions. Here in the U.S. health care chaplains play a big role in providing spiritual care and support for patients. Referring back to the mini lecture on religion and health. Spiritual assessment and care are being integrated into patient care plans. Health care organizations are starting to see that when there is a lack of understanding of patient religious or cultural needs that the quality of care decreases.

Each person has different approach to end of life based on their cultural, religious, and personal values. Because of these values some people might want forgo medical therapies including nutrition and hydration support as a medical treatment. According to the article, registered dieticians have an active role in making decision the hydration and nutrition requirements. Registered dietitians should work collaboratively with the medical team to make recommendation and withdraw or withhold nutrition and hydration in individual. When individual choose to stop nutrition and hydration support because of ethical reason such as religion and cultural registered dietitians have a professional role to discuss the the ethical decision. Food and drink

Given the situation it is morally permissible to refuse life-extending treatment. If I were the patient it would be more like a cruel and unusual punishment rather than a right to life. You are existing not living. A definition of living by Oxford Dictionary is “the pursuit of a lifestyle type,” and you cannot pursue anything if you are bedbound especially if you are hooked up to machines. The principle of respect for autonomy is the principal that we have an obligation to respect persons and that person’s decisions. Using this principle, we have an obligation to respect the patient wishes, and so it is not up to the doctor or law makers to decide what is the ‘best’ for the patient. The guilt of the patient’s death should also not fall onto anyone either because the patient is killing themself in situation.

Medical ethics is an arrangement of moral principles that relates to values and judgments through the practice of medicine. When it comes to medical ethics, Christianity plays a very big role in this moral belief just as any other religion does. In our daily practice of medicine, the seven principles of medical ethics is a vital part in life-and-death decisions, and it is always up-to-date on human life issues. The one that I mainly wanted to focus on was justice, which is the sixth principle of medical ethics. When it comes to justice from a Christian’s point of view it means respecting the human rights and self-respect of all human being. “The real purpose of civil law is to guarantee an ordered social coexistence in true justice, so that all may "lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way” (First Timothy 2:2). The doctor’s obligation is to be unbiased with his patient, respect his/her moralities as an individual, and give the patient suitable access to health care. Biblical justice involves making people, societies, and the universe complete, by safeguarding both goodness and fairness. According to James, biblical justice stands at the middle of true religion. He also stated that “the kind of religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27). I chose this verse

Physician are not obligated to provide treatment that has no benefit to their patients as their goal is to help the sick ("Futility: Ethical Topic in Medicine," 2014). When useless interventions are provided, they may lead to an increase in pain and discomfort, give both the patient and their family false hope, delay relaxing and comfortable care, and the misuse of valuable medical resources ("Futility: Ethical Topic in Medicine," 2014).