Healthcare Decisions for Capacitated Patients Research Paper

Healthcare Decisions for Capacitated Patients - Research Paper Example As a result, health-care providers face challenges in such situations, because they routinely turn to available formal or informal surrogates as a way of expressing the best interests’ standard as they make health related decisions for the capacitated person. More so, depending on the beliefs and philosophical leanings, of different individuals perception on removal of life-sustaining treatment could be viewed as the cause of allowing a patient to die. More importantly, the doctrine of informed consent was formulated to represent the legal right of embodiment of self-determination in health care cases (Kleinman,I. (1991). As a result, the doctrine acts as a guiding process of medical decision making as it defines the restrictions of the patient-physician dialogue. Therefore, the health practitioners have to follow the clear and consistent health legal principles that stipulate their directives on treatment limitation, and decision making for patients who lack capacity even tho ugh they are capacitated. More so, the use of opioids, futility and physician-assisted suicide expose challenges to health-care providers based on the legal, ethical, societal and individual values that are either in favor or against making decisions for the capacitated patients. For this reason, those against the idea of making healthcare decisions for capacitated patients consent to the fact that it is ethically, legally, and clinically better to always ascertain the level of patient’s valid goals, preferences, wishes, and values as compared to taking an immediate default to a family member or other surrogate decision maker. Nonetheless, those in support of making decisions for the capacitated patients believe decisions made give best interest of the patient and family members as it relieves them from the pain and suffering. Pro Side Even though, patients are normally considered to have the right to participate in making decisions that relate to their care including cases o f diagnostic and treatment interventions, ambulation, diet, daily care, and end-of-life care. More significantly, health related decisions that involve capacitated patients expose health care providers to a challenging situation because it involves the health of a patient who cannot make sound decisions for themselves (Sessums, Zembrzuska, & Jackson, 2011). This is because some capacitated patients are considered to have either insufficient cognitive or emotional ability that will guarantee the health-care provider that the patient cannot make and express independent decisions personally. As a result, the health-care provider will depend on either an instruction directive that the patient previously executed in advance through a living will, or take the second alternative of available formal or informal surrogates. This is because the patient’s surrogates will give or withhold informed consent regarding the medical treatment options available on behalf of the capacitated pati ent who cannot make an independent decision. Nonetheless, such decisions should be in favor of the capacitated patient in legal, ethical, societal and individual values thus, should be unbiased. Societal and Individual Values Relevance More importantly, those in favor of making a decision for capacitated

Monachy of the Middle ages Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Monachy of the Middle ages - Essay Example At this point leadership followed the Roman standard of having an Emperor, who took power through being named as successor or through overthrowing the previous successor. At the start of the early middle ages, Justinian I (who ruled from 527-565) was able to restore some of the western territories to the empire, however most remained under Germanic control. The Macedonian dynasty rose to power in 867, cementing the influence of what remained of the Roman Empire1. Those in the West were considered to be barbarians, and any advances that they made were scorned or ignored. The Germanic monarchy in the West was formed from the leaders of tribes and this was often known as the Barbaric Monarchy. Unlike in the East, there was no single leader; instead there were multiple kings, each of whom had to follow three functions. These were: to act as a leader at the time of warfare, as a judge during assemblies and as a priest when sacrifice was needed. Unlike the system in Eastern Europe, under G ermanic monarchy, all sons had equal right to rule. This often resulted in co-rulership of the tribes. Under Germanic monarchy, there were three levels, similar to the class system present in the Roman Empire; these were the king, the nobility and the free man2. The Late Middle Ages (c. 1300-1500 CE) were differentiated by a strong advancement in the level of knowledge and cultural attainment that were obtained. In addition, towns were becoming established as self-sustaining entities that were distinct from one another. Social unrest was prevalent with much of the population being lost through plagues and famines. The influence of monarchs and ruling powers over their citizens was substantially decreased as the consequent of the development of state laws3. These laws were designed to ease the growing civil unrest by providing civilians with reassurance, and by the creation of a system that was distinct from the whims and desires of the monarch. Nevertheless, the monarch remained the predominant power within the Late Middle Ages, determining which laws were established and which were not. Consequently, the Late Middle Ages differed from the Early Middle Ages through the development of more consolidated monarchies and increases in the rights of citizens. The creation of state laws allowed for the application of justice that was relevant to the case in question. Part Two: The Role of Religion on Western Civilization Religious activities have had a significant impact on the formation and development of the Western civilization between the years of 1050 and 1690 CE. One source of this influence was the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church was not the only strong religious influence of the Middle Ages, another was Judaism and Christianity in general as well as the Protestant religion. In 1054, an event known as the East-West Schism saw the division of the roman church into two divisions, the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. This was the first developme nt of the Catholic Church as its own entity. The Catholic Church exerted powerful influence on the lives of citizens determining many of the ways in which they interacted and what they could and could not do. An example of this is contraception. Contraception was considered immoral under the Catholic religion, and consequently no member was allowed to use any method of birth control. The result was