In the health care field, providers are constantly faced with ethical dilemmas. Oops... I left a sponge in your abdomen after surgery... where do we go from here? Oops... I forgot to check on you and you fell out of bed. Oops... you have lung cancer but we're not going to tell you until you're healthy enough to deal with the information. Sometimes the correct way to resolve the situation is a guessing game. How do we know what the patient would want or not want to hear? Here's an example.
A70 year old widowed woman comes to the hospital for a routine surgery to have her gallbladder removed. She establishes a relationship with her surgeon and they discuss her life. The patient explains how her and her husband had always wanted children but tried unsuccessfully for many years. She expresses how lonely she is now that her husband is gone and she has no other family.
During the surgery to remove the patient's gallbladder, the surgeon discovers her tubes have been surgically tied. No doubt this was the reason she was never able to conceive. However, the patient's only known surgery was to remove her appendix as a teenager. The physician then wonders, did her parents have her tubes tied without her knowledge? Did the surgeon that removed her appendix make a mistake and tie her tubes also? And the biggest question of all... should the surgeon tell the patient?
What good would come of telling the patient this tragic news? She's 70 years old and this new information won't change her life's outcome. Maybe it would only add anger and hostility toward her parents and surgeon. But perhaps the patient has blamed herself all these years for not being able to produce a child for her husband. Perhaps this information could relieve her guilt and she could finally have closure. What is the right decision? How do you know? Who should decide?
Unfortunately, the surgeon gets to decide. I tend to think in terms of black and white and believe the patient always deserves to know the truth. It's not someone else's responsibility to decide what they can and can't handle. But that's just my opinion. Imagine you were the patient... would you want to know? Please leave a comment and say what you'd want.
A70 year old widowed woman comes to the hospital for a routine surgery to have her gallbladder removed. She establishes a relationship with her surgeon and they discuss her life. The patient explains how her and her husband had always wanted children but tried unsuccessfully for many years. She expresses how lonely she is now that her husband is gone and she has no other family.
During the surgery to remove the patient's gallbladder, the surgeon discovers her tubes have been surgically tied. No doubt this was the reason she was never able to conceive. However, the patient's only known surgery was to remove her appendix as a teenager. The physician then wonders, did her parents have her tubes tied without her knowledge? Did the surgeon that removed her appendix make a mistake and tie her tubes also? And the biggest question of all... should the surgeon tell the patient?
What good would come of telling the patient this tragic news? She's 70 years old and this new information won't change her life's outcome. Maybe it would only add anger and hostility toward her parents and surgeon. But perhaps the patient has blamed herself all these years for not being able to produce a child for her husband. Perhaps this information could relieve her guilt and she could finally have closure. What is the right decision? How do you know? Who should decide?
Unfortunately, the surgeon gets to decide. I tend to think in terms of black and white and believe the patient always deserves to know the truth. It's not someone else's responsibility to decide what they can and can't handle. But that's just my opinion. Imagine you were the patient... would you want to know? Please leave a comment and say what you'd want.
Shoot Damaris, I just wrote a very long response and some where in cyber land it went bye bye. Basically there are too many variables and potential to completely disrupt this woman's life to tell all, even if it could be figured out. No way the Dr. should be the one to make the decision though. They have way to much on their plate to begin with and aren't really all that personable anyway (major generalization there).
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