Patient Rights

I want to remind you that patients’ rights have increasingly become a crucial aspect of our daily dealings. It is expected by all that we treat them according to the standards of practice. Most patients who come here entrust us to do the right thing, and there I am obligated to ensure that their rights and privacy are not breached. Since your mother has complained about the chemotherapy, it will not be right for me to administer it to her without disclosing it (Smith, 2005). She knows that she is safe and protected and that should there be any cause of alarm, she has a remedy. Our professional practices prescribe that I am a partner in the decision making with my clients. So, I need to accord all the rights; this is crucial to the elderly and the sick.  

I understand part, but then I will be going against the ethical standards which outline my duty as a medical practitioner. Allow me to share some of the rights that might work against me should any serious complications arise having attended to her: I will be depriving her right to informed consent and treatment choice. I must listen to her and give an option to decide which treatment plan perfectly suits her and respect her decisions.  She has also to consent to any form of checkup that I will do, including which parts of her body I should touch without making her feel uncomfortable. Her consent is what will enable me to provide the necessary care (Daher 2016). Given that she has asked me to change her medication, that is an expressed consent, and I must give her the correct medication.

Secondly, she has a right to access the right information and proper disclosure about all the tests performed and any other relevant information concerning her health (Daher, 2016). I must give adequate information about her illness and any possible remedies, advise her on any side effects or consequences of certain treatment options. Thus, I must not hide any information from her or appear to impose decisions on her. I should give her the medical report after treating her and explain it to her.  Going against her wish will only work against me as she will not have faith in whatever tests and even medications  I have given her (Smith,2005).

She has a right to access all medical records and files and get a copy for future treatment records elsewhere.  If I falsify the reports, it could likely harm her health, now or in the future (Smith, 2005).  Her records should be treated as confidential, and because you are her daughter, you are not supposed to alter the information contained therein (Daher, 2016). The access to information to be shared should be revealed to her, and give consent before sharing.

In my capacity, I should give her information about her health any prevention measures for any diseases. Given that she has been feeling unbearable pains due to chemotherapy, I should advise her on the other treatment forms that could relieve her current pains. Therefore, it will be so cruel of me to repeat the same medication that is hurting her (Daher, 2016). Furthermore, I am supposed to issue her with any written or proposed treatment before I administer it.

Let me conclude by saying that every patient coming here or any other health facility has the right to proper treatment and be handled respectfully and humanely by all the health service providers.  Their decisions matter, and they have an option to decline any unauthorized operation on them and even ask to be transferred to another physician. Your mother is not an exception; she deserves her rights to be fully withheld. Thank you.

References

Daher, M. (2016). (PDF) Patient Rights. Retrieved 7 December 2020, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305376981_Patient_Rights

Smith, M. (2005). Patients and doctors: rights and responsibilities in the NHS (2). Clinical medicine, 5(5), 501.