Refusing Medical Care
Refusing medical care is something all patients have the right to do. Doctors should honor the patient’s request, but they don’t always follow through. More often than not, a physician will assume the patient is non-compliant, and make forceful attempts to administer their desired care. At a critical stage of the patient’s life, the patient may have a deep feeling of helplessness; so making life-changing decisions is all they can (and want to) control.
There are many reasons patients would want to refuse treatment. They simply may not understand the extent of the necessary treatment, they may be afraid, they may not be able to afford it, or they even may have cultural or religious reasons backing their decision. Very often, physicians used to simply assume the patient was noncompliant or problematic. Compliance or competency can be defined as follows: “A competency determination is a determination of a particular …show more content…
Once the physician takes some time to discover the fundamental cause of care refusal, he or she may be able to address it with an alternate route that may please both the patient and the physician. One thing the physician should always keep in mind is that the patients absolutely have the right to refuse treatment. They cannot force a patient to do anything against their will.
One way a patient can expand his or her rights is by having an advanced directive, also know as a living will. This document allows the person to dictate what actions and procedures should be taken in terms of their health, if they reach a state of incompetence and are no longer fully able to make well-informed decisions. An advanced directive is ideal in a situation where a physician is not listening to a patients requests, because it provides a legal basis for the patients
Refusing medical care is something all patients have the right to do. Doctors should honor the patient’s request, but they don’t always follow through. More often than not, a physician will assume the patient is non-compliant, and make forceful attempts to administer their desired care. At a critical stage of the patient’s life, the patient may have a deep feeling of helplessness; so making life-changing decisions is all they can (and want to) control.
There are many reasons patients would want to refuse treatment. They simply may not understand the extent of the necessary treatment, they may be afraid, they may not be able to afford it, or they even may have cultural or religious reasons backing their decision. Very often, physicians used to simply assume the patient was noncompliant or problematic. Compliance or competency can be defined as follows: “A competency determination is a determination of a particular …show more content…
Once the physician takes some time to discover the fundamental cause of care refusal, he or she may be able to address it with an alternate route that may please both the patient and the physician. One thing the physician should always keep in mind is that the patients absolutely have the right to refuse treatment. They cannot force a patient to do anything against their will.
One way a patient can expand his or her rights is by having an advanced directive, also know as a living will. This document allows the person to dictate what actions and procedures should be taken in terms of their health, if they reach a state of incompetence and are no longer fully able to make well-informed decisions. An advanced directive is ideal in a situation where a physician is not listening to a patients requests, because it provides a legal basis for the patients