Medical Paternalism
Keywords:
Physicians, Family, Ethics, Medical, Physician-patient Relations, Paternal Behaviour.
Abstract
The costly consequences for a patient, whom I had not prepared well enough for her hospitalisation, rudely brought me to my senses. What sort of doctor do I want to be? Our training, our medical system, our patients and society as a whole make us take on a parental role which does not always serve our patients. I considered the ethical (aspects of paternalism, of autonomy, of consent and the use of placebo, and decided: for the good of my patient and their autonomy, I must help them to take more responsibility for their own health and not allow circumstances to push me into a paternalistic behaviour.
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