A Patient's Ethical Dilemmas

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The key ethical issue is that the patient has capacity to make a decision regarding surgery, and her autonomy should be respected, however the medical team is receiving conflicting information from the patient’s family about what the patient’s wishes are. Initially the patient was unable to communicate with the medical team due to a language barrier, and the patient’s husband insisted she wanted to proceed with surgery. Her children later state she told them she does not want to undergo surgery. The medical team cannot be sure what the patient’s wishes are. The physician then makes a suitable decision to involve an interpreter to communicate directly with the patient. After discussion with the patient, it is still unclear if the patient …show more content…

While the provider explains that the chance of a cure is low, he does not offer information about what quality of life can be expected both with and without surgery, which is crucial information for the patient to make an informed decision. Perhaps the physician believes the quality of life will be poor which is why he is only mentioning that the chance of cure is low. While the patient is voicing that she wants to proceed with surgery, all other appropriate options should also be explained such as comfort care and palliation. Perhaps chemotherapy or radiation therapy may be options to provide symptom relief, but inevitably would have negative side effects that need to be explained. All suitable options must be explained in order for the patient to make an informed decision regarding her course of …show more content…

There does not appear to be financial or economic factors, however the children may have a financial motive to impede the surgery from occurring. It is also possible that religion and culture are playing a role; if it is true that the patient is putting her husband’s wishes above her own, this could be impacted by cultural values. Allocation of resources could be considered an issue as well, since her prognosis is poor, one may argue that these scarce resources would be better utilized for a patient with a better

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