Ethical concerns tend to be a major limiting factor in current medicine, but its purpose is to benefit both the patient and the medical professional. After interviewing Dr. Ruthanne Kurtz, I was able to gain a better understanding of how health professionals perceive ethics. Dr. Kurtz is a registered nurse with a Doctorate in nursing, she explained to me how she initially started working as a nurse in order to support her children as a single parent. She told me stories about how she grew up working with her grandmother in a nursing home on the weekends when she was young, and it sparked her initial interest to work in the healthcare field. Dr. Kurtz stated that, after working nearly 40 years in hospital based nursing, her career has become
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The patient has the right to full disclosure so they can decide how to manage their lives. The conversation should be handled with kindness and sensitivity, but the information needs to be shared with the patient. Questions need to be answered honestly. (Kurtz).
Finally, I asked if she would recommend or give life sustaining therapy, even if she determined it was futile. She responded by saying that “The decision to accept treatment is up to the patient. Treatment means hope to the patient. We see treatment given daily that is ultimately futile, but requested by the patient” (Kurtz). The answers mainly showed that the final decision should ultimately fall on the patient, and that physician is solely there to offer options. The final set of questions that I asked focused on the ethics of medical procedures, and what her standpoint on them was. The first was regarding the use of fetal tissue to treat disease, which is widely frowned upon in many religious circles. Although it is frowned upon in many circles, she responded by stating that “Yes, advances are made every day and we have the ability to cure and improve the lives of millions” (Kurtz). Generally speaking her main concern in this matter was improving patient care and not the moral issues tied to the issue. Finally, I ask Dr. Kurtz if she believed it would ever be acceptable to purchase organs. Having written her doctoral thesis on a topic involving organ transplant, she gave me an answer that was based on her research. Dr. Kurtz stated
The patient has the right to full disclosure so they can decide how to manage their lives. The conversation should be handled with kindness and sensitivity, but the information needs to be shared with the patient. Questions need to be answered honestly. (Kurtz).
Finally, I asked if she would recommend or give life sustaining therapy, even if she determined it was futile. She responded by saying that “The decision to accept treatment is up to the patient. Treatment means hope to the patient. We see treatment given daily that is ultimately futile, but requested by the patient” (Kurtz). The answers mainly showed that the final decision should ultimately fall on the patient, and that physician is solely there to offer options. The final set of questions that I asked focused on the ethics of medical procedures, and what her standpoint on them was. The first was regarding the use of fetal tissue to treat disease, which is widely frowned upon in many religious circles. Although it is frowned upon in many circles, she responded by stating that “Yes, advances are made every day and we have the ability to cure and improve the lives of millions” (Kurtz). Generally speaking her main concern in this matter was improving patient care and not the moral issues tied to the issue. Finally, I ask Dr. Kurtz if she believed it would ever be acceptable to purchase organs. Having written her doctoral thesis on a topic involving organ transplant, she gave me an answer that was based on her research. Dr. Kurtz stated