The Linacre quarterly
-
The Linacre quarterly · Feb 2018
Contemporary Medical Students' Perceptions of the Hippocratic Oath.
The Hippocratic Oath is a standard of medical ethics. Oath adaptations are common. Objective: Evaluate students' perceptions regarding the oath. Design: Survey of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical School graduating students regarding the oath's relevance, content, and application, and whether a choice of version should be provided. ⋯ The Hippocratic oath is a standard of medical ethics. Oath adaptations eliminating the original's prohibitions of abortion/euthanasia are common. Most medical students who were questioned preferred the adapted oath to the original. Only two-thirds recognized the original's prohibitions of abortion/euthanasia. Those who knew of the original oath's prohibitions also had a decreased desire that it be used. Students disagreeing that a choice of versions of the oath be provided had better knowledge of these prohibitions. This is concerning, given the original oath's importance in medical ethics including at the 1945-1949 Nuremberg trials. Nonetheless, a subset of students affirmed the original Hippocratic oath's importance, desiring its use.
-
It is controversial whether tube feeding in people with dementia improves nutritional status or prolongs survival. Guidelines published by several professional societies cite observational studies that have shown no benefit and conclude that tube feeding in patients with advanced dementia should be avoided. However, all studies on tube feeding in dementia have major methodological flaws that invalidate their findings. ⋯ However, these studies are not very helpful because of flaws in design, which are discussed in this article. Guidelines from professional societies make a blanket recommendation against feeding tubes for anyone with dementia, but an individual approach that takes each person's situation into account seems more appropriate. Patients and surrogates should be aware that the guidelines on this topic tend both to underestimate the benefit and exaggerate the burdens of tube feeding.
-
Moral character is formed by one's actions. The habits, actions, and emotional responses of the person of good character all are united and directed toward the moral and the good. Because human beings are body/soul unities, actions of the body are actions of the self, that is, human beings are self-possessing, self-governing, and self-determining. ⋯ Growing in the virtues, especially prudence (knowing what to seek and what to avoid) forms good character. What is at stake is the integrity of the person. The physician who believes that use of contraception is immoral must also act in ways that display that belief and avoid actions that promote contraception use by his or her patients.
-
Traumatic brain injury (TBI), a complex neurological traumatic incident where brain function is disrupted due to physical trauma, can be categorized in multiple ways and is commonly scored using the Glasgow Coma Scale. Severe closed head injury is a form of TBI with a Glasgow Coma Scale less than 8. The outcomes and prognosis are not uniform in the population but mortality is estimated at 30-50 percent. In this case of severe closed head injury, the patient was able to make a near full recovery after several neurosurgery and medical treatments and intercessory prayer to Saint Luigi Guanella. ⋯ Head injuries vary in severity and traumatic brain injuries can be extremely serious leading to bleeding, loss of consciousness, and can affect verbal responses, muscles movement in motor responses, and responses with eye movement. Traumatic brain injuries require medical care to assess the severity and treat the injury. In this case report, we discuss a patient's very severe closed head injury while rollerblading without a helmet from which he was not expected to make a full recovery, but did so following intensive medical treatment, rehabilitation, and intercessory prayer to Saint Don Guanella to combat the initial injury and subsequent issues.
-
The Linacre quarterly · Feb 2013
What should be one's moral response to the HHS "contraceptive mandate"?
This article asks how one should morally respond to the HHS contraceptive mandate which is now law and part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This article first presents the historical background of the Obama Administration altering the government's 'final rule' for providing health services and protecting conscience rights. The mandate compels individuals and religious groups to provide insurance coverage for contraceptive, abortifacient, and sterilization services even though they are contrary to their values, and it narrowly defines what constitutes a religious group so fewer of them can claim exemption. ⋯ The article uses the Summa Theologiae of Aquinas to explain what constitutes formal cooperation and how obeying the law can be material but not formal cooperation. It then examines whether the present conditions warrant material cooperation. It concludes that they do not and that religious groups are called to act as martyrs and give witness to their religious identity and moral values by resisting the law.