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Analysis Of Complications By Atul Gawande

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Should the patient be able to make medical decisions or should the doctors? Whose body is it anyway? Which judgement call should be made, the practical or the personal belief? The author, Atul Gawande, proposes these questions in the book, Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science.
Gawande uses multiple stories to answer these questions. First, he conveys the story of a man, Joseph Lazaroff, who had terminal cancer that left him slightly paralyzed. He could have surgery to help be relieved from the pain, which is dangerous or he could die peacefully. “Lazaroff wanted surgery. The oncologist was dubious about the choice, but she called the neurosurgeon.” “He warned them at length about how terrible the risks were and how limited …show more content…

The doctor proceeds to inform the patient that she has, “an area of ‘suspicious’ calcifications” (Gawande 217), and that she needs to have the tissue in question removed for further testing. This being the fourth time doctors are recommending to have this procedure, and all the times prior she complied, to find nothing. She refuses this go around for a biopsy. “Do you let her do?” (Gawande 218). Although, the decisions times before, she allowed doctors with professional experience make the call, proving to be a mistake that was forever body altering, she makes the final …show more content…

Although, the real question that arose was, “is it ethically correct for important decisions that need to be made about an individual’s life including health should be made by another person” (223-224). He answers the question throughout the entire book using multiple personal stories to his advantage, answering with it is in small amounts ethically correct for one to have a deciding factor in some points of the decisions involving their health but the full decision. “The doctor should not make all these decisions, and neither should the patient. Something must be worked out between them, one on one- a personal modus operandi” (Gawande 223). I believe that Gawande’s point is valid, health related decisions should be made by both the professional and the

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