Sunday, February 12, 2012
Mind-Body Gap
After the debate in class on Thursday, I was provided with the perfect example of whether or not people should be allowed to make their own medical decisions. My grandfather has many (mostly minor) problems with his health, and he claims to know the "reasons" behind these medical issues. His feet hurt because he eats cheese, he has insomnia because he can only sleep sitting up, not laying down, etc. Over and over again doctors have tried to convince him that there are other reasons, more scientifically based. Yet, instead, my grandfather is influenced by conspiracy stories of medical companies, and random theories that people post about online. So, my grandma slips him the correct pills. I am a Cartesian - I believe that it there is a scientific reason behind his medical problems. If we let his mind win over his body it would only encourage him to make these connections related to his medical issues. On a side note, one question I was pondering after class (for the opposition) was if the individual is a doctor, would they then be able to be free to make their own decision? Since that was an argument, that you would need advice from someone who knows the medical field. So if an informed doctor was sick or something, would they then be able to freely make whatever medical decision they felt was necessary?
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Dana, you bring up a good point. For the opposition, I don't think a doctor would be able to make any decision he/she felt necessary because it would still have a be an informed decision. I think it's important to keep in mind that the opposition wasn't arguing that a doctor is able to make any decision he/she wants for the patient and so wouldn't be able to make any decision for him/herself. That would mean that if the doctor wanted an ill patient to have a certain treatment then the patient would absolutely have to have the treatment. The way I understood it was that the opposition was not arguing about the doctor being able to "freely" choose any medical decision for the patient, but more along the lines of regulation of something the is seen to be potentially harmful and the importance of informing the patient.
ReplyDeleteI hope my point comes across clear. I would love to know your response to my comment :)
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ReplyDeleteDana.
ReplyDeleteI am in the same boat as you on this issue. I am a Cartesian and I beleive there is a scientific reason behind most problems we face.
I enjoyed your question for the opposition and wish it would have been addressed during the debate. I also agree with Amys post above that the opposition was only making the argument that the doctor would have lines of regulation laid upon them. In this case though I believe the doctor would be able to make the choice for themselves if they were faced with this decision. I would still like to beleive they would have to listen to the informed decision coming from another doctor able to assess the situation.