Mike and Joanne have to make an important decision concerning the health of their son James. They have to decide whether their son is going to have regular dialysis or have the belief that their son is going to be healed by putting their faith in God. As Christians, Mike and Joanne decided to have faith in God that their son was going to be treated since they had witnessed a close friend who regained mobility when she was prayed over through a healing service after a serious stroke. Two days later, the Mike and Joanne returned James to the hospital for dialysis, and when he was stable; his neurologists had an appointment with Mike and James and told them that James has a kidney transplant within the year. This shows that Mike and Joanne want their son to get healed at the same time they want their son to have the hospital care. They, therefore, have to make a decision whether to depend on their faith or continue with the hospital care. Under Christian narrative and Christion vision, the attitude towards life and death is considered as a trust from God and the cause of death is beyond human power and ability.
Under the Christian narrative and Christian vision, Mike and Joanne decide to trust in God and believe in spiritual healing thus postponing James’ medical dialysis. They then take James to faith healing services rather than taking James to the multiple dialysis procedures. As Christians, they put their trust and faith in God to heal their son James. Later in the week, Mike and Joanne are forced to return James to the hospital for the dialysis procedure. The greatest dilemma is balancing the basics of autonomy where physicians have a duty of allowing their patients and their guardians to make a decision about their health and to provide the necessary conditions to make their choices and their importance. Physicians have to help their patients and preserve life. There is a conflict between Mike’s and Joanne’s decision about James health and the physician’s role in looking out for James’ health benefit.
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There is a dilemma when Mike and Joanne have to decide whether to proceed with the multiple dialyses on James or have faith in God that their son was going to get healed through a service healing. Mike also has a dilemma whether to let Samuel donate a kidney to his brother James or wait for a miracle where God will heal James. The physician has a conflict of interest since he/she has to decide whether to continue allowing Mike to make the decisions which seem to be harmful to James. Physicians have to listen, provide care and advice thus aiming to provide quality care. In this case, James neurologist scheduled a meeting with Mike and Joanne and informs them of James stability and that he may need a kidney transplant within the year. He also informs them of a matching donor.
According to the law and principles regarding health situations, the physicians should respect their patients' decision about their health if the patients are within the threshold of making the decision themselves. Also, according to the principles of medical ethics, patients and the guardians have a right to either refuse or accept medication or allow the natural causes of events to take place (Rothman, 2017). In this case, Mike and Joanne are James parents, and therefore they have a right to decide their son’s health since James, who is eight years old, is not old enough to make the decision himself. The physicians, therefore, should allow Mike to make the decision about James health. Beneficence is also a principle of medical ethics which means helping others. If the decision seems irrational and harmful to James, the physicians can help advise and guide Mike on the necessary step and action to take concerning James health but not impose his decision on Mike. The physicians have the right to offer guidance to Mike decision and give the relevant benefits and risks (Beauchamp, 2016). As the physician advice Mike on the importance of the healthcare approach, he or she should be aware that Mike autonomy and a say in the treatment of James.
Christians believe and trust in God whenever they face challenges since they believe that the challenges they face are ways to strengthen their faith (Grover et al., 2016). Therefore, they see sickness as a reflection of God`s way to strengthen their faith and healing as a way of God’s triumph over sin. In this case, as a Christian, Mike put all his trust and faith in God without taking any other necessary actions to heal his son. Mike and Joanne accepting James treatment was a sign of them conquering the challenges they were facing. They had to put their faith in God so that their son would be healed. Therefore, as a Christian family, they decided to take their son to a healing service since they had faith and believed that their son was going to be healed. According to Christian narratives, autonomy is an aspect that needs to be respected for the decision-making ways of an independent individual. In this case, Mike and Joanne decision to postpone their son’s treatment and take him to a service healing had to be respected by the physiologists. Also, Christians believe that an organ transplant is an act of love since they will be following Jesus example of helping the people who are in need. Christians believe in eternal life, and therefore organ donation is one way of giving life to another person (Grover et al., 2016). There is no prohibition in the bible on organ donation or accepting an organ, and therefore Christians believe that it is the right thing to do. Mike and Joanne should decide and agree to kidney transplant for James. This is because Christians have nothing against an organ transplant and they view it as a way of helping the people in need. Christians have various beliefs on sickness and healing, and therefore Mike and Joanne followed their beliefs which clouded their judgment on putting James to the multiple dialysis procedures.
Christians understand that God uses desperate moments to strengthen their faith, to identify the purpose of their lives and to be conquerors during challenging moments. According to the Bible, human suffering is in control of God, and he has solutions to every type of distress (Ferngren, 2016). Everything is done by the will of God, and during the challenging moments in life, Christians should have faith and trust in God. Mike, as a Christian, he should trust in God and balance his spiritual life and physical life. His son's health improvement is determined by the decision he makes, and therefore he should make a decision that will help improve his son’s conditions. He should allow the physicians to do their work in helping James. He should allow James to have the kidney transplant and treatment. As a Christian, he should pray to God and have faith God that his son will receive the right donor and the proper medical care. He should pray that his son may have a successful kidney transplant procedure and finally get better after the treatment.
In conclusion, Mike and Joanne should balance their spiritual and physical living. As Christians, they should not only trust their religious beliefs in healing their son but, also trust the physicians to help James get better. Mike has to pray, hope, and have faith that his son may fall into the right God-sent caregivers and that his son may be healed through the medical procedures his son was going to go through.
References
Beauchamp, T. L. (2016). Principlism in Bioethics. In Bioethical Decision Making and Argumentation (pp. 1-16). Springer, Cham.
Ferngren, G. B. (2016). Medicine and health care in early Christianity . JHU Press.
Grover, S., Hazari, N., Aneja, J., Chakrabarti, S., & Avasthi, A. (2016). Influence of religion and supernatural beliefs on clinical manifestation and treatment practices in patients with bipolar disorder. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 70(6), 442-449.
Rothman, D. J. (2017). Strangers at the bedside: a history of how law and bioethics transformed medical decision making. Routledge.
