Assignment 1: Medical Case Analysis

1. The argument I chose is the second argument. The second argument states that no patient likes to hear bad news (pg. 106). This argument is pretty much self-explanatory. No one likes to hear bad news from anyone, especially medical professionals. No one desires to give bad news because the reaction from the patient can go downhill quickly and some doctors do not know how to handle a patient when the extremely upset. For example, no one wishes to hear that they have cancer and no one wants to tell a patient that kind of information, however, someone must give the news as delicately as possible.
2. Higg’s reply to the second argument is that true respect for that person (the patient) means giving them the information they need to decide on the treatment needed to give the patient control over his/her life (pg. …show more content…
I believe that a patient has a right to all information about their diagnosis and/or tests. If it’s a severe diagnosis they need to understand that the doctor is not at fault, they are simply the messenger. A doctor is there to give them the diagnosis and options on how to handle the diagnosis. It is up to the patient to decide their treatment and how they would like to handle the diagnosis. When you give the patient the truth, they have every bit of the information even though they might be completely upset about the outcome, they have a way to starting planning ahead.
3. In my personal opinion, I believe that Higgs's has successfully shown that lying is almost always unacceptable. The first argument that doctors give is that it is difficult to for a patient to understand a technical subject that they have no knowledge of the technical subject (pg. 106). However, a doctor must acknowledge a patient’s education level when they are