When You Can’t Decide, Who Will? Essay Example

In “When You Can’t Decide, Who Will?” the staff of the St. Joseph Health System discuss the legislation that is relevant to decision making in the health care setting. While patients and their doctors are generally expected to collaborate to make important health decisions, the patient can occasionally be in a position in which he or she is not able to communicate desires to the physician. This could occur for many reasons, including mental disability, the patient being in an unconscious state, or the patient being too young to understand or legally make these types of decisions. However, a wealth of legislation has been passed that describe the powers that patients, their families, and the hospital has in these situations (St. Joseph Health System, n.d.).

The article suggests that to avoid ethical concerns, it is important for patients to plan ahead and make their wishes known in advance in order to ensure that doctors are able to carry out their preferences (Cook et al., 1995). A particular example of this occurs frequently when patients must be put on life support. If the patient’s wishes had not previously been noted, this decision remains up to the family, even though their choice may contrast the patient’s. Therefore, it is important for all individuals to note in the form of legal documentation the choice that they want made for them in such a situation.

There are several local and federal laws that regulate the patients’ rights in these instances. The first is the Federal Patient Self-Determination Act of 1990, which “requires health care facilities to inform patients of their right by state law to have advance directives”. Some states have local laws that were designed to support this act. In particular, the Michigan Public Act 312 of 1990 allows “Michigan citizens to establish a DPA for medical decisions in the event a citizen becomes unable to make those decisions”. This law allows an individual to designate someone as their patient advocate, to make medical decisions for them if they personally cannot. This is an important aspect of upholding patient health care rights because rather than allowing this responsibility to default to the family, the patient can select the individual that he or she best believes will represent their interests.

The highest court that could be involved with such issues is the Supreme Court because they are able to ultimately decide whether the laws that regulate these patient ethics are Constitutional and whether patients who are treated in more than one state have the ability to access these rights. In the light of the Affordable Care Act, many questions have been raised with regards to the affordability of health care and patients’ rights. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that the Supreme Court and lower courts may hear cases that address these laws in the future. To ensure that all patients receive ethical treatment, it is important to ensure that the individuals that are representing their health have their best interests in mind.

References

Cook DJ, Guyatt GH, Jaeschke R. (1995). Determinants in Canadian Health Care Workers of the Decision to Withdraw Life Support From the Critically Ill. JAMA, 273(9).

St. Joseph Health System. (n.d.). When You Can’t Decide, Who Will? Retrieved from http://www.ascensionhealth.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=77:when-you-cant-decide-who-will&Itemid=175