The Pros And Cons Of Health Care Physicians

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Health care physicians are tasked with the responsibility of caring for people with a variety of illnesses. However, a patient has a legal right over their bodies and thus can refuse treatments recommended by a physician. There are a variety of reasons that a patient would refuse help, one being because of their religious beliefs and another reason may be that the patient is incapable of making informed decisions. However, a doctor should have the right to treat patients involuntary, if it would benefit the patient. It is also important to bear in mind the Hippocratic Oath when considering why doctors should be allowed to treat a patient who has refused medical treatment. The oath prompts physicians to “prescribe only beneficial treatments, according to his abilities and judgment; to refrain from causing harm or hurt” (Encyclopædia Britannica). By not treating a patient with an illness, that can be …show more content…

However, the article, “Dissolving the dilemma over forced treatment,” By Vardit Ravitsky and David Wendler argue against such reasoning. The authors claim that circumstances can account for whether a person has the ability to make a decision, in some cases they possess the ability and in other cases they do not. As a result, physicians should have the ability to treat someone that has refused treatment despite, “the importance of respecting patients’ autonomy and justify forcibly interfering in their lives.” However, the reason to force treatment should not be because of minor and none life-threatening reasons such as, taking “antibiotics for a sinus infection.” An additional reason to not force treatment is for physicians to have a chance to test “experimental therapies” (Ravitsky et al., 2005,