Ethical Dilemmas That Doctors Face Every Day

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In my clinical exposure so far, I have not yet personally witnessed a situation which presented an ethical issue for the medical professional. However, such situations do occur in a variety of circumstances and I think that a good understanding of medical ethics is becoming ever more important to all practicing doctors. For example, in the year 2012, a case was reported in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) of a twenty-two years old patient (I shall refer to him as Patient A) with sickle cell anaemia who had been admitted for treatment (1). He was a Jehovah’s Witness (JW) and had signed a consent form refusing whole blood or any blood product transfusions. As his mother (also a Jehovah’s Witness) and an elder from his church were present at all times during the hospital stay, it was speculated that they were unduly influencing him to keep refusing the life-sustaining transfusion. However, Patient A was assessed by a third party and it was confirmed that he had full mental capacity and was making the decision on his own. As a result, Patient A did not receive blood transfusion and after three weeks in a hospital in the United Kingdom he died (1). In this paper I will consider the ethical implications involved in the care of adults (with full capacity) who refuse medical treatment on religious grounds. Reading about this case made me think of the ethical challenges that caring for members of faith who refuse life-saving treatments may pose for the physician – emotional, professional, and legal. Considering the ‘Duties of a Doctor’ outlined by the GMC (2), as a physician it will be my responsibility to preserve life and health by employing all techniques available to me. However, I will also be obligated to respect my patients’ autonomy and rights to make decisions about their own medical care (3) and the refusal of such. And this is where the ethical principles of

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