Case 1
The physician was right to override the patient’s autonomy and the reason being that for a patient who has suffered severe burns the decision-making capacity might be compromised to a very large extent during the time of sustaining the injuries and for a moment after the incidence. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH) victims are in no condition to make decisions during the early stages of suffering severe burns due to the shock they suffer physically or emotionally. This condition limits their contributions in early decision-making process. Several studies have also shown that victims who had similar experiences were happy with the decision made by the physicians on their behalf.
Supportive care for burn therapy can be a nightmare to victims. The constant cleansing of the wounds is quite excruciating and physicians are required to be very patient with the victims. Giving the victims a few months to heal is enough to determine whether they are in a position to make competent decisions regarding their supportive care. Pain can cause a victim to make erroneous judgement just to stop the process but when it has subdued then it is safe to consider their contributions. Constant counseling and support from the physicians and family might help in shaping the decisions of the victims during and after recovery.
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Possibility of recovering and not giving treatment to the victims can be termed as death by negligence should the patient die. It is the responsibility of the physicians to ensure continued treatment as long as there is possibility of recovering however slim the chances might be until ruled otherwise. Victims suffer trauma after the experiences they go through. Thus they need a lot of support so that they can be able to cope with the situation and accept themselves as they are. Therefore, a physician should not let any patient commit suicide no matter the circumstances as long as the condition is treatable and it does not put the life of the victim in danger.
Case 2
A physician should only step in and stop harmful cultural practices when he is fully aware that the practices causes harm to the children in ways such as causing permanent disabilities or damages when the practices are performed on the children. As for this case, the bruises are temporary and should heal in time thus the practice is not so much harmful. However, the parent should be cautioned on using safer ways while maintaining a high degree of hygiene to minimize the bruises and ensure the safety of the child.
The role of the physician is to treat patients irrespective of their cultural orientation, races or social economy. Patients should be treated equally with regard to the medical ethics, principles and justice. Medicine has been in existence from the ancient times and thus various cultures have their way of traditional medicine that they deem fit to practice and believe to be the right procedures for light illnesses such as flu. Some practices are bound to have side effects but that does not rule out the eligibility of the practice.
The physician should not report the mother. A parent still maintains the right to take care of a child in a manner that he/she views as right. The physician has the responsibility of identifying whether the practice is among the lawfully acceptable forms of treatment for certain communities and whether the parent crossed the boundary of acceptable and unacceptable parental behavior. Unless the physician can confirm that the child is suffering from negligence or harmed intentionally then there is no reason to report the mother.
References
National Institutes of Health. Supportive therapy in burn care. Natl Inst Health Consens Dev Conf Summ. 1977-1978;1:35-38. https://consensus.nih.gov/1978/1978BurnCare009html.htm.
