Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves: [25]-33)

xii, 163 p. / The principle of respect for autonomy has been the center of gravity for the doctor-patient relationship for forty years, replacing the previous defining concept of physician paternalism. In this work, I seek to displace respect for patient autonomy with narrative and phronesis as the skills that must be mastered by the physician to engender a successful therapeutic clinical relationship. Chapter I reviews the current state of affairs in the philosophy of medicine and the doctor-patient relationship and explains how and why autonomy has become so central to physicians' understanding of how to conduct a clinical encounter with a patient. Chapter II argues that "respect for autonomy," while remaining a valid rule to be considered in some clinical relationships, cannot be the central concept that defines the relationship both because it fails to describe accurately human selfhood and also because it empirically lacks universal applicability--many humans, and most seriously ill patients, actually lack autonomy. Shared decision making, an autonomy-based model of the doctor-patient relationship, suffers from this critique of autonomy as well as its own shortcomings in that it maintains a strict fact/value distinction that is untenable. Chapter III introduces narrative philosophy and its extrapolation, narrative medicine, as a possible alternative to an autonomy model of care. I defend a narrative view of selfhood, while recognizing that even if we are in some sense narratively constituted, this still leaves many questions regarding the relationship between story and self, particularly in a clinical encounter. In Chapter IV, I seek to limit the claims of narrative by arguing that story and self can never be fully equated and that narrative must be understood as demonstrating alterity rather than eliminating it. In Chapter V, a new conception of the physician's role in the doctor-patient relationship is presented, combining phronesis, or practical wisdom, with narrative skill in four aspects of the clinical encounter: diagnosis, treatment, assistance in medical decision making, and emotional support of the patient. / Committee in charge: Naomi Zack， Chairperson； Cheyney Ryan， Member； Mark Johnson， Member； Mary Wood， Outside Member

INTRODUÇÃO: A importância da bioética tem uma demanda importante na prática médica e é muito pouco discutida na psiquiatria. Antes de se pensar o panorama bioético do paciente e do contexto de tratamento, deve-se avaliar a postura bioética do profissional envolvido na relação médico-paciente. Como em outras áreas da psicologia e da psiquiatria, o uso de instrumentos de avaliação de atitudes tem se mostrado útil na discussão de várias situações e comportamentos. No campo da relação médico-paciente na psiquiatria, o Questionário de Sensibilidade Moral (QSM), uma escala dimensional com respostas tipo Likert sobre questões éticas (divididas em 6 dimensões propostas para a sensibilidade Moral) na enfermagem e na psiquiatria, mostra-se como um instrumento específico e útil na investigação das atitudes morais do médico. OBJETIVOS: Conhecer a estrutura da sensibilidade moral dos médicos psiquiatras do Brasil. Descrever o panorama das variáveis epidemiológicas e demográficas da população estudada. Investigar as relações de algumas variáveis epidemiológicas (demográficas e culturais) com a estrutura da sensibilidade moral dos médicos psiquiatras do Brasil. MÉTODOS: Comparar estatisticamente os resultados das dimensões da escala com as variáveis epidemiológicas colhidas no momento da avaliação. RESULTADOS: Foram avaliados 522 médicos psiquiatras do Brasil. As variáveis epidemiológicas investigadas foram: a idade, com média de 49 anos, a raça (brancos, 91,60%), o sexo (homens, 65,70%) e o estado civil (casados, 64,00%). Os psiquiatras também foram avaliados com relação a outros aspectos, a saber: religião (católicos, 44,40%), ter feito ou não residência médica (sim, 75,10%), tipo de prática na psiquiatria (mais que 1 atividade, 86,20%) e tempo de prática profissional (21,3 anos). DISCUSSÃO: Houve a concordância total com as dimensões da Sensibilidade Moral como autonomia, respeito pela integridade e relacionamento interpessoal; concordância parcial na benevolência e respeito às regras, e forte discordância na experiência de conflitos éticos. As variáveis demográficas que tiveram relação estatisticamente significativa com as dimensões e questões da escala foram: idade, cor da pele, sexo, estado civil, religião, residência médica como formação profissional, tempo de experiência profissional e tipo de prática na psiquiatria. CONCLUSÃO: O QSM mostrou ser útil como escala de avaliação moral da prática médica psiquiátrica no Brasil. A estrutura da sensibilidade moral dos médicos psiquiatras brasileiros sofre múltiplas influências em sua relação com elementos epidemiológicos, demográficos e culturais / INTRODUCTION: Despite the importance of Bioethics in all fields of medical sciences, it does not receive enough attention, mainly in psychiatry. Before considering the most appropriate approach to treatment, any physician must focus on its bioethical medical-patient relationship. Like other neuroscience areas such as psychology, the use of instruments that evaluate the phenomenology of attitudes have proved to be necessary in many discussions that involve behavior. In regard to the relationship between physician and his patient, the Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire (MSQ), a Likert-type scale with 30 questions concerning 6 dimensions of moral sensitivity in psychiatric practice, has shown itself to be a specific and good self-evaluation instrument that can be used in the investigation of psychiatrists\' moral sensitivity attitudes. OBJECTIVE: To know the Brazilian Psychiatrists\' Moral Sensitivity framework; and to describe the epidemiology and demographics of the population studied and to investigate some relations within these variables with the Psychiatrists\' Moral Sensitivity. METHODS: The results and scale domains were compared statistically using the epidemiological variables mentioned in the questionnaire. RESULTS: A number of 522 Brazilian psychiatrists were evaluated. The epidemiological variables were age (average of 49 years old), race (91,60% were white), sex (65,70% were men), and marital status (64,00% were married). The psychiatrists were also evaluated concerning other aspects, namely: religion (44,40% were Catholic), status of medical residency as field of training (75,10% had academic residency training), type of professional practice (86,20% had more than one practice field in psychiatry) and length of professional practice (average 21,3 years). DISCUSSION: There was a total agreement in the moral dimensions mentioned in autonomy, respect for integrity and interpersonal relationship. A partial concordance was achieved in benevolence and rules. A strong disagreement was shown in experiencing medical conflicts. The epidemiological variables that were strongly related to the scale dimensions were age, religion, medical residency, length of professional experience and the type of psychiatric practice. CONCLUSION: The QSM has shown to be useful as a bioethical tool in the field of investigation of Brazilian Psychiatrists\' Moral Sensitivity. It was also viewed that the Brazilian Psychiatrists\' Moral Sensitivity framework can be influenced by epidemiological, demographic and cultural factors

M.Cur. / Modern technology has brought on the possibility to sustain life for an indefinit3e period, but does not give answers to the questions arising from such situations. In view of shrinking resources available for tertiary care, and the growing awareness of justice, indefinite continuation of life-support therapy has been subjected to scrutiny. Traditionally the treating physician made all decisions regarding therapy. In Western culture the public are more aware of their right to self-determination and participation in decision making with the autonomy to do so. The nurse's role also changed from "handmaiden" to an independent practitioner who takes part in decision making regarding her patient. Decisions regarding life-support therapy is sensitive and becomes more complicated the more people become involved. The following question can then be asked: What are all the factors in decision making concerning life-support therapy? The aim of this study is to identify the factors in decision making concerning life support, as the first step in defining the parameters in decision making. The design chosen to identify these factors is a qualitative, exploratory, contextual, phenomenological case-study design. one case study was done on a patient where the continuation of life support was questioned. All persons involved with the patient were included in the case study. Interviews were conducted, observations and field notes were made and patient records were explored to identify factors in decision making. A narrative was written to present this information. As these constituted the micro-level, a literature study was done to identify factors on the macro- and meso-levels. The results of the analysis are presented as a list of factors in decision making concerning life-support therapy.

L’objet de cette étude a consisté à analyser comment le droit a pu appréhender la notion très complexe de l’éthique, particulièrement dans la norme médicale. De prime abord, le droit appréhende l’éthique comme une réflexion collective organisée, encadrée, institutionnalisée, un questionnement sur la finalité des sciences médicales et la recherche d’un choix de société. L’éthique constitue un appui pour la construction de la norme juridique et crée des liens entre la société, la médecine et le législateur. Elle serait une éthique « sociale ». La loi organise cette activité extra-juridique qui remplit une fonction ressource, dont le droit ne peut tirer que des bénéfices. L’appréhension est plutôt procédurale, la loi se préoccupant essentiellement d’en décrire les composantes et la mise en œuvre. L’éthique est distanciée, en marge de la loi.En second lieu, il sera aussi exposé que l’éthique n’est pas seulement une notion envisagée de l’extérieur. Le droit a appréhendé l’éthique en l’inscrivant au cœur de la norme juridique, confronté à la nécessité d’encadrer et de réguler l’exercice de la médecine, de la biomédecine et de la recherche sur la personne humaine. Ici, l’appréhension est plutôt prescriptive, traitant des principes devant guider les pratiques, proche de la moralité. Cet autre versant témoigne du rôle subsidiaire pris par le droit pour réguler les pratiques. Elle est une éthique de la recherche ou une éthique médicale ramenant à une obligation de conscience. Le maniement de cette notion au cœur du droit paraît plus difficile à appréhender, les frontières entre les deux disciplines pouvant parfois manquer de lisibilité. / This study aims at understanding how the French law system has gradually incorporated the very complex notion of ethics, with a focus on French medical standards and regulations. At first sight, the law views ethics as an organized, supervised, and institutionalized collective reflection, a questioning on the purpose of medical sciences leading to a search for guiding rules prevailing the orientation of our society. Ethics becomes a support for the construction of the legal rule and creates links between the French society, medicine and the legislator. This approach generates what can be called “social” ethics. The judiciary organizes this extra-legal activity, which serves to provide new and fresh ideas, from which the law pulls profits. The rendition of ethics by the law is descriptive, the legislation concerning itself mostly with describing the components of the official institutions concerned with ethics and their implementation. Ethics is distanced, outside the law. Looking further in the texts and court decisions, ethics cannot be restricted to a notion simply external to the law. The law views ethics as the standards to be taken into account at the heart of the legal rule, which must build, order and regulate medical practices, biomedicine and medical research on human beings. Here, the system apprehends ethics in a prescriptive and censorial manner, stating principles that must guide the practice closer to morality. This other aspect demonstrates the supplementary role taken by the law system to regulate medical practices. This entails an ethics of medical research or a “medical” ethics deeply inspired by human consciousness. At this stage in the evolution of the French law system, this understanding of ethics, at the heart of the law, is more subject to variations, if not contradictions.

No description available.

The aim of this essay is to investigate the ethical issues that permeated the carbohydrate experiment that was going on at Vipeholm's hospital for "uneducable insane" in Sweden. The material about the experiment is taken from Elin Bommenel's dissertation The Sugar Experiment: The Caries Experiments 1943–1960 at Vipeholm Hospital for the Insane. To create understanding, Beauchamp and Childress´s four ethical principles, which are used as ethical guidelines in health care, were used in the analysis of the experiment. The four principles are the principle of nonmaleficence, the principle of respect for autonomy, the principle of beneficence and the principle of justice. The analysis based on the four principles showed that the Vipeholme experiment is complex to understand as Beauchamp and Childress's principles provided a picture of the research which from many aspects cannot be seen as ethically correct. From other aspects, however, some elements can be supported by Beauchamp and Childress. The researchers had the task of investigating caries that would successfully help many people. Based on the principle of beneficence, one could imagine that the researchers acted correctly, but had no respect for the patients' autonomous decisions. The two principles are then in conflict with each other, something that critics of Beauchamp and Childress point out as a shortcoming.

The dissertation examines the ethics of staff in perioperative care. The aim was to analyze the errors that occur during surgery, to determine the participants in perioperative care who commit these mistakes, and to analyze the reasons why these errors occur. The theoretical part deals with the concept of security from different perspectives of patient safety in surgery, and the international guidelines that direct it. The situation in the Czech Republic in terms of care for patient safety in surgery is also described. One chapter deals with the autor's internship in operating rooms in Sweden. Using the results of observations, the empirical part of the dissertation analyzes the actual behaviour of staff in perioperative care during surgery against the binding documents that ensure safe perioperative care. It also sets out the reasons that lead to non-compliance of health and safety regulations in perioperative theatres. In conclusion, I suggest steps that would help to improve the situation. Key words Perioperative care, safety, security, pacient pafety, medical ethics, nursing ethics

Physicians encounter significant difficulty when faced with decisions related to withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy (WLST) in patients with devastating brain injury (DBI). The complexity of this decision-making process is multifactorial, including practitioner- and patient-specific variables, as well as surrogate decision-maker bias, inaccuracies in scoring systems, and inconsistencies in guidelines endorsed by professional societies; these issues all contribute to the significant uncertainty of these situations and variability in treatment paradigm. Solutions are complex; however, analyzing WLST with an urban bioethical lens — which emphasizes the principles of solidarity, agency, and social justice — can enhance physicians’ ability to navigate this uncertainty and ensure that potential solutions are patient-centered. / Urban Bioethics

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the well documented health disparities affecting racial and ethnic minorities, particularly those living in underserved urban settings. Due to historic and contemporary structural racism, these areas are often food deserts, lack adequate access to primary care services, and have higher rates of maternal and infant mortality. The lack of public health infrastructure to respond to emergencies, such as pandemics, can be rapidly met with collective action from communities to take care of their most vulnerable. After providing a basic overview of how structural racism has created the present-day disparities seen in communities such as North Philadelphia, this thesis investigates and makes the case for the capacity of these resilient communities to take care of themselves. To this end, I describe the work of North10 Philadelphia, Fabric Masks for North Philly, and the Maternal Wellness Village—community-based organizations that rapidly pivoted their work to fill the unmet needs of people in North Philadelphia related to food insecurity, personal protective equipment, and childbirth preparation and social support, respectively. I describe the utilization of the services provided by these groups and evaluate the evolution of their work from the onset of the pandemic through present day. Following each case study, I share the stories of the leaders behind each project to give voice to the people fighting for the health and wellbeing of their community. Lastly, I reflect on my positionality as a Black woman and medical student at a large academic institution partnering with these groups and assert the need to maintain partnerships with these and similar organizations to ensure the sustainability of their programming in the long term. / Urban Bioethics