Role of Medicine and Health in Relation to Ethics - Article Example

30 November Health care and medicine The field of medicine and health care is diverse and some medical procedures are a mystery to most of the medical students. Some of the procedures that can be carried on a patient need a hard decision as they mean death or alive. This is the toughest decision doctors make. Worse still, some of the medical procedures may lead to prosecution of a physician in a Court of law. This paper is sought to explore the position of physicians when euthanasia is necessary to a patient as a medical ethics, it will also focus on the understanding of health and medicine, and how inequality affect health care and medicine. Role of Medicine and Health in Relation to Ethics Physicians play an important role in preventing deaths especially in medical prescriptions for their patients. However, in cases of euthanasia, a deliberate way of ending a life, physicians collaborate with their patients in taking away lives through a lethal injection, a legalized procedure especially in the Netherlands; this procedure is unlawful in the United States (Churchill, 2009). The main reasons for euthanasia are pain and deterioration of the patient. The patients can willingly accept to take it; sometimes physicians perform it without the patient’s consent. In the United States, euthanasia is illegal and the physician is subject to prosecution if they perform it whether by the patient’s consent or not. Doctors have often engineered ways to evade any legal actions against them by pretending to be “not the killers”. This was seen from Dr. Kevorkian who delivered a lethal prescription and left the life of the patient hanging on a thin thread (Churchill, 2009) Some physicians oppose the “right-to-die” because of the fear of losing trust from their patients, especially if doctors are allowed to recommend death. This fear has no ground in real life as most doctors are dedicated to the well being of their patients Under medical procedures, disputes between the patients and physicians are reported. The central cause of these differences is centered in the prescriptions of medicines. Under these circumstances, the dispute can be settled by having the patient transferred to a different hospital. In the current medical treatment, there is a patient’s autonomy which must be respected by the physicians. The parties are informed of all options available for treatment even though not offered in the current hospital. Patients in this matter have the right to choose the best prescription or medical procedure of their choice, meaning, they can refuse or accept any prescription offered by the physicians (Miles, 1990). However, this does not put the patients above the physicians in choosing the treatment procedure or prescription. This was justified by a patient who was confirmed to have a pulmonary problem. The family of the patient demanded for a respirator but no doctor was willing to use it on the patient, terming it non-beneficial as the patient was on the end-of-life. According the physician, a respirator would not treat the patient but just prolong life. The ultimate decision called for a court order (Miles, 1991). In a medical procedure, the relationship between the two will determine how the healing process will go. Many litigating decisions in health are often associated with lack of care or cooperation from either side. These problems are associated by poor delivery of information by physicians, lack of understanding, lack of family concern. It is therefore important to have an enhanced relationship between the patient and the doctor/ physicians (Miles, 1991). Critical Understanding of Health and Medicine in United States From the class of Health and Medicine, I have covered a lot and most importantly my questions answered through a series of practices. The class has also given me the courage to face any practical challenge that may come up in future. Among many things I have learnt, I discovered that, a number of medical prescriptions are defined by the law in the United States. In the US, the Court makes the final decision pending unsettled conclusions by both the patient/patent’s family and the doctors. From the context, patients develop life threatening infections due to misunderstanding of the discharge instructions; a patient saying no to all instructions asked by the doctor simply because they do not understand what the doctor is asking. All these illustrate are under-noticed problems perceived by the health fraternity; I think they pose serious risks like prosecution or taking someone’s life. The United States experiences a high level of health illiteracy bearing in mind the ethnic gaps that are underlying. America is intermingled by a myriad racial and ethnic background. Despite their medical illiteracy, patents are expected to comply with drug regimes to fight chronic diseases and operate complex home medical devices like chemotherapy devices. From this ordeal, medical problems in the United States can be fairly settled by educating the illiterate on health issues, assist patients in operating sophisticated medical equipment and use a specific language that a patient may understand. The idea of ending life through lethal application is acceptable by both American physician and patients but largely unacceptable by the law, terming it illegal. It is not so clear whether the sole motive is to peacefully put the patient to rest, bearing in mind the pain the patient undergoes before dying or they never care about the lives of people. However, I learnt that brain death is acceptable by law, a neurological issue which means the death of the entire brain. The process is called brain death. This process was discovered in the year 1968, in Harvard Medical School. Though allowed by the United States, it is objected by religious grounds (Churchill, 2009) Gender, Race and Class in Relation to Health and Medicine Gender, race and class inequalities are immensely damaging the mental health. They play a big role in health resource distribution. 1. Gender Inequality - Gender as a factor offers tangible benefits to men in terms of resources, power, and authority to control. The number of the affected is big with a myriad of problems. An action should be taken to improve gender equality. For instance, empowering women to perform same duties like men. Recognizing the rights of women is the first step towards reducing health inequality and ensures equal distribution of health resources. 2. Race - In recent years, Americans are healthier than before as a result of great advances in technology, preventive measures on disease breakdown and a wider access to health care resources. However, racial groups never benefit from these advances and resources, receive poor health care, and most unfortunately do not expect to live long. Racial groups are a physically distinguished population with a common background. According to various researches, race is not an immutable category but a social category. Racial prejudice and practices are common in the United States and result to unequal access to medical resources, unequal treatment procedures and a difference in health insurance protection policies. All these are part of the bracket that reinforces or directly mitigate the racial practices in the United States of America. 3. Social Class - Social class is a serious issue that involves status, wealth, culture, employment and background. A group with a low social-economic status will have their health compromised. In regard to living a healthy life, lower social class people take unhealthy foods. Social class influences health in the sense that, poverty leads to poor health, resulting from poor nutrition, poor housing and surrounding. This will expose the poor to infective diseases like the parasitic infections. Tb patients receiving treatment- The difference of class in access to medical care and resources In the United States, social class determines the health status and life span of a person. The more education and income one has, the less likely they are exposed to the dangers of heart attacks, diabetes and many fatal diseases. It is important to note the significance of health and medicine. More importantly educate or create awareness about health to all people, regardless of gender, race/ethnicity or social class. Fair distribution of medical care and resources will reduce the number of deaths as all people are same and should have access to health care. Work Cited Churchill, King. “End-o- Life Ethics.” Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics 4 (2009) 73-87. Miles, Steven. “Informed Demands for Non-Beneficial Medical Treatment” New England journal of Medicine.325 (1991) 512-515. Read More