P2:Explain the different sociological approaches to health and ill health. As conceived by Talcott Parsons (1951), the functionalist perspective on health and medicine emphasizes that good health and effective medical care are essential for a society’s ability to function. Ill health obviously impairs our ability to perform our roles in society, and if too many people are unhealthy, society’s functioning and stability suffer. This was especially true for premature death, said Parsons, because it prevents individuals from fully carrying out all their social roles and thus represents a “poor return” to society for the various costs of pregnancy, birth, child care, and socialization of the individual who ends up dying early. Poor medical care is likewise dysfunctional for society, as people who are ill face greater difficulty in becoming healthy and people who are healthy are more likely to become ill. For a person to be considered legitimately sick, said Parsons, several expectations must be met.
The principle Primum Non Nocere teaches the use of the least invasive methods necessary to allow the body to heal itself. A detailed look into a patient’s history and habits can help identify what level of intervention is required based on how severe their symptoms are. Another distinguishing factor of naturopathy from conventional medicine is the principle Tolle Totem. In order to find out the underlying cause of what might be making a patient sick enough time needs to be spent asking the right questions and investigating deeper than their symptoms. Good health is more
With the Lees standing firm on adhering to their culture and they feel that the western medical field lacks proper interaction with patients thus the inability for the Lees to be able to fully trust the doctors. Although seems that fusing dichotomy of illness and disease in the shamanic practice and validating patient’s concerns is rational, to the doctors, they share the ethical values and are driven to do anything to save the lives of their patients. This, in turn, makes them view the Hmong as irrational in not having a person treated based on their symptoms but their souls. Ethnocentrism is being
The principle of utility states that the quality of life matters when it comes to pleasure, and if we were to make the quality of a person’s life better, we must be useful and relieve that person from pain and suffering. (Falikowski, 2005) We can also refer to Ayn Rand’s Ethical Egoism to conjure that physician’s assisting suicide is ethical, since there are few people in society who suffer from long-term illnesses for which there aren’t any permanent cures. Ending their life is the only cure to stopping their
When asked about visiting the doctor to increase his medicine, Mr. Ramirez says he has not. Since increasing the dosage has helped, he does not feel a visit is necessary. (3) List the relevant values There are many things to consider in this case. One important value suggested is the welfare of the patient, which considers the moral rule to protect others from harm. I have good reason to believe that increasing the dosage without consent from the doctor will result in harm to the patient.
In the article by Garrett, Baillie, McGeehan, and Garrett (2010), the health care professional’s obligation is to “provide the health care information and leadership to ensure that this distribution is accomplished in ways that allow the goals of health care to be achieved” (p. 71). Although the physician informed Ms. Selbstmord of the lifestyle changes she needed in order to improve her condition, he failed to inform her of other important treatment options. The physician decided against prescribing Ms. Selbstmord a medication for asthma because of the side effects that would result. However, the principle of double effect of nonmaleficence would suggest that improvement of her asthma by the medication would create more good than the harm of the side effects so it should have been given as an option for the patient to decide. If the health care professional would have provided Ms. Selbstmord of all of the options for treatment and their consequences, it would become Ms. Selbstmord’s responsibility if whether or not her condition improved or worsened.
For example, side effects of appropriately prescribed and administered chemotherapy are an example of adverse events not caused by error (Hoy, 2006). Medical errors should be disclosed to patients for a number of reasons. Because of their fiduciary relationship with patients, physicians have an ethical responsibility to disclose errors to them. To withhold this information undermines the public trust in medicine and damages the therapeutic relationship between physician and patient. In fact, patients may be caused additional, avoidable harm by failure to disclose because they lack information that would allow them to receive appropriate treatment should further complications arise (Hoy, 2006).
I agree with the reductions in costs, even in a medical error. I liked the way they conducted the research and how they handled their findings, yet when they found that EMRs did not really prevent medical errors and to not increase patient safety, I had to disagree. If an EMR is correctly formatted and records are kept precisely and consistently, then the safety of a patient would have to increase. EMRs keep track of medication allergies, mental disorders, chronic illnesses, current and pat medications and procedures, all this would be a tool to correctly prescribe, treat and care for a patient, reducing medical errors just by having knowledge of their
This document is important because it helps your family members by relieving them of tough decisions about your life and health. It also helps your healthcare provider. "In order to obtain a living will, you must have a certificate from your doctor, that you are not suffering any mental illness, and that you are of sound mind when you make end of life decisions." With that said, what happens when you don't have a terminal illness, but you are unconscious and are not able to make decisions for yourself? What happens then?
That is, we should permit people selling their kidneys if it made people better off. In no uncertain terms the recipient would absolutely be much better off – but for the seller this is no certainty. What are the health risks? Are you worse off in terms of health afterwards? If the procedure is carried out in a state of the art hospital, then the risk is in fact very low, as low as some risky professions that we do permit like a deep-sea diving.