Two different paths Sam Tehranchi
Sam Tehranchi
Year 2 Medical student, Barts
2021/22
I made this drawing online of a person walking on an empty road who must pick between two different paths. He can go to the left, a path of lightness and a prosperous healthy tree, or to the right, to darkness and a dying tree. The patient is just like this man in the picture who has a decision he needs to mak. The redness symbolises an impulsive behaviour like the devil on your shoulder. It tells you to do what you desire, but a lot of the time desires are not beneficiary to your health. On the other hand, he could go the left and make a better and more responsible choice and have his health prosper, like the tree. The trees represent the health of the patient, and it is up to them to decide which way they want to go.
Tutor Notes
Patients need to make choices. This applies to students, professionals and educators.
Choices can be clear and predictable. Some choices present with their own challenge.
Tensions can exist between these choices.
Questions
If the choices are clear, why do people make the wrong choices?
Can the wrong choices ever be right?
Are we allowed to let someone make the wrong choice? If it goes wrong, who will be responsible?
Is it always possible to define what the choices are?
To what extent can we know what the consequences are (risks, benefits)?
Who decides on the choices?
How do we decide what the right thing to do is? Think about autonomy.
What if someone has no choice or cannot make a decision? Think about capacity and consent. What about children?
John Stuart mills on Autonomy
The only part of the conduct of anyone, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.
— John Stuart Mill
Medical ethics approach
Autonomy
Beneficence
Non-maleficence
Equity