YORK - PRN - Carol Forsloff - Studies have shown medical personnel reluctant
to participate in executions because of medical ethics, but ethical
decision-making is the major struggle for doctors involved in the
practice of medicine in general.
WebMD
Health Corp. conducted a survey made by Medscape, a doctor's resource
site that examined physician attitudes about some of the most difficult
decisions they have to make. 10,000 doctors were used to determine the
results.
The August 2010 survey explored ethical
issues including end-of-life, pain treatment, insurance reimbursement,
colleague relations, withholding information from a patient, patient
privacy, and other issues that present moral dilemmas.
"What came through loud and clear through this survey
is that by and large, doctors try to do what they believe is right,"
said Dr. Steven Zatz, Executive Vice
President, WebMD Professional Services. "However, the results also
highlight the complex ethical issues confronting physicians and their
efforts to make appropriate decisions."
"Today's doctors face more frequent and more complex bioethical dilemmas than in former times," said Thomas H. Murray, PhD, President of The Hastings Center, a bioethical research institute in Garrison, New York. "In medicine, the increased power to intervene now requires that doctors make choices whether to do so or not."
One of the hardest decisions for doctors to
make is the literal decision of life or death involved in
physician-assisted suicide. Green Heritage News editor Forsloff
discussed this with several doctors in Hawaii during the late 1990's,
finding that most doctors provide large doses of medicine to family
members with terminal illnesses, even when they know patients will die
from it. Surveys of doctors reveal a high percentage of doctors will do that.
The following shows some of the survey findings. An
additional 16 questions dealing with other crucial physician ethical
dilemmas and the special series can be found at www.medscape.com.
End of Life Care
When asked whether physician-assisted
suicide be allowed in some cases – results were mixed with 45.8% of
respondents answering "yes"; 40.7% said "no"; and the other 13.5% said
"it depends."
Liability and Medical Error Issues :
The
majority of doctors 60.1% answered "no" when asked if it was acceptable
to cover up or avoid revealing a mistake if that mistake would not
cause harm to the patient, 19% of respondents said "yes" it was
acceptable, and the remaining 20.9% said it "depends."
Patient Treatment Issues
When
asked whether they would hide information from a patient about a
terminal or preterminal diagnosis in an effort to bolster their spirit
or attitude – 59.8% of physicians would tell it exactly like they see
it; 14.6% admitted they would soften it and give hope even if there's
little chance; 1.7% wouldn't tell a patient how bad it was – unless they
were going to die immediately; and the other 23.8% said it would
depend.
Other Ethical Issues :
On
the subject of whether buying organs for transplant should be legal for
people if they would not be able to receive an organ by waiting their
turn through the national database – nearly 20% of doctors said "yes",
but the majority (66.5%) said "no." The remaining 13.6% said "it
depends."
Murray
concludes, in reference to these findings, "If a physician recognizes
that he or she is having a tough ethical dilemma, it shows that this is a
morally conscious individual trying to do the right thing."
