The thesis of this chapter states that in certain situations, it is crucial to listen to a medical professional, however, in others, it is very important to listen to yourself and also to do what you feel is right. The author of Complications," Atul Gawane, has written this specific chapter to persuade the reader of his thesis. If the choice you make is incorrect, then it could potentially be a matter of life and death. Atul Gawande gives multiple examples of patients that have made wrong and right decisions to prove his point. He uses the personal anecdotes of four different people, with four decisions to prove his point.
Atul Gawande is an American surgeon, professor, notable author, and writer for the New Yorker. In his 2015 article “Overkill,” he describes many of the flaws the American healthcare system holds. Throughout the article, Gawande intertwines personal stories, patient stories, and expert testimonies to make his argument stronger. Gawande argues, “Millions of Americans get tests, drugs, and operations that won’t make them better, may cause harm, and costs billions.” Or in many cases, he redefines over testing and “low-value” care as providing “no-value” care.
Within this film, they illustrate many problems with the current medical system, mostly to do with rules and regulations that restrict patient care. What the film lacks is an actual analysis of why these problems deprive patients of better care and, also, solutions to these problems. One of the most prevalent problems throughout the film, that stuck out to me, was the amount of
Thus, instead of removing all tests and operations that doctors judge to be meaningless, healthcare providers should only perform extra investigations that remove doubt and ensure a peace of mind. Claim: -In some cases, choosing to remove additional inspections places the patient at binary: you live with the condition which has a small chance of being fatal or your die unexpectedly. Evidence: -From Gawande’s perspective, the option to “leave alone” all diseases that have a small chance of being deadly is a perfectly acceptable.
Misdiagnosis is a huge problem that accounts for a large number of deaths in the United States and around the world. Some of the causes of this could be from the amount of time doctors have with their patients and bias the doctors can have. Susannah was an exception in being able to pay for the treatment she received. The average American would have likely not been able to afford this type of care. This highlights the major medical divide that is present in the country.
Doctors and physicians have more and better knowledge than normal people about human body and they are able to assist their patients while making tough decisions. However, they can not always make the right decision. Doctors can not predict the result of a surgery or a treatment and they do not have enough confidence of the result because sometimes the surgery could go in a way they didn’t expect. Although patients have the right to decide their treatments, doctors and patients should share
At times, doctors have to choose between the preservation and honor of a patient's dignity or to break ethical guidelines to help the human races’ health. A doctor who puts his patients’ well-being as his priority, usually respects the patient’s wishes. However, many factors influence a person’s decision to conduct an unethical experiment. In the contemporary biography, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot shows that scientists constantly discover and develop new concepts and procedures that help heal numerous people, despite the unethical experiments that they conduct on living organisms.
The outcomes new therapies produce may seem to justify and validate the means of over compensating subjects. Some may also contend that the benefit outweighs the harm, and the aim is to produce a net benefit over harm when considering beneficence and non-maleficence together (Gillon, 1994). Nevertheless, there is no obligation of beneficence to others, but there is an obligation not to harm (Gillon, 1994). The former utilitarian statement’s intentions appear virtuous, however, the true means the industry uses and their intent is flawed. Trouiller and colleagues’ (2002) evidence supports the claim that the pharmaceutical industry’s intent is to profit from research given their reluctance to develop new therapies that would help millions due to costs and risk of investment.
Their Struggle is Real Students sat in straight long rows as I gently placed a diagnostic assessment on their desk. As I continued placing the diagnostic assessment on each desk, I listened to the moans and groans of my students who resented the assessment. I could hear the females in my classroom sucking their teeth in disappointment, the males mumbling “Wait we Have an Essay”!.I looked out the corner of my eye watching students put their head down. Many students either stared blankly at their assessments with a look of confusion on their face, while other students raised their hand waiting to be called. Before I assisted any of my students, I explained the directions and the purpose of a diagnostic assessment.
The internet contains inaccurate medical information that can be misleading. Jalees Rehman, author of “Accuracy of Medical Information on the Internet”, analyzes the accuracy of medical information on the internet based on a study from the Journal of Pediatrics. Researchers tested the accuracy of the internet in relation to sleep safety for infants. They found that “Only 43.5% of these 1300 websites contained recommendations that were in line with the AAP recommendations, while 28.1% contained inaccurate information and 28.4% of the websites were not medically relevant”. This erroneous information can cause a person to take actions that might do more harm to themselves or to others.
This indicates the serious result of mistakes in professional practice. In the real world, the result of making mistake is shocking, “In 2000 the Institute of Medicine published a shocking report that mistakes by health care providers are common and often life threatening” (Crigger 568). The Institute of Medicine was published on 2000 showed that the mistakes in health care system are common and harmful to the lives of patients. Ray Bradbury’s short story “A Sound of Thunder” shows that the reason why the whole world changed is because they brought one butterfly back to the real world. Actually the mistakes they made are common and multiple because mistakes always interact with each other.
As I read Overkill, I wasn 't surprised about unnecessary medical care, and it 's financial or physical harm. We see this first hand in the nursing field. The article mentioned in 2010, the Institute of Medicine issued a report that Medicine waste accounted for thirty percent of health-care spending, or seven hundred and fifty billion dollars a year, which is more than our entire nation 's budget for K-12 education (Gawande,2015). That doesn 't shock me, it infuriates me! I witnessed some of this waste while working in a nursing home.
Good points Casey, I believe that physicians in partnership with public health officers must first evaluate the comparative dangers modeled. To be ethically justified, public health methods must only be presented if their potential risks are necessary in light of their possible social benefits. The predicted health benefits connected with a given policy must be evaluated against possible social magnitudes, including violation upon personal rights and social and economic damage to individuals. Medical proficiency is essential in considering the effectiveness of other interventions.
However, in this study they proved that the results of this study were held to a higher value than the patients’ own lives. It is astonishing that people in a profession intended to help people, were able to sit back and watch people die when they knew that there was something they could have done to save
Ethical Complexity of Distribute Justice and Rationing Medicine is a practice based on moral standards applied to clinical values and judgments, also known as medical ethics. Ethical values consists of beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy and justice. However, these ethical principles are affected when distributive justice and rationing of health care resources are implemented “…in a world in which need is boundless but resources are not…” (Scheunemann & White, 2011, p. 1630). The historic Hippocratic Oath described the four main principles of medical practice and established a moral conduct for clinicians. Beneficence demands that health care providers develop and maintain skills and knowledge, consider individual circumstances of all patients, and strive for the patient’s benefit.
