Healing and Autonomy: Patient's Spiritual Needs

Benchmark: Patients Spiritual Needs Coursework
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Part 1 Response
The physician should not allow Mike to continue making irrational decisions that have a detrimental impact on James' health outcomes. According to the beneficence principle, the physician should make decisions that are tailored to benefit the patient based on moral guidelines that dictate the need to defend and protect others' rights, mitigate harm, as well as remove conditions and perspectives that will most likely harm the patient. The purpose is to ensure the physician administers immediate treatment for acute glomerulonephritis, thus preventing complications and augmenting the patient's health outcomes. According to the National Kidney Foundation (2023), kidney transplantation increases life quality and expectancy and is cost-effective even when non-ideal kidneys are transplanted. Instead of James continuing with dialysis that seems unresponsive to his health needs, sub-optimal kidney transplantation may still be increasingly cost-effective and preferable. In addition, the physician should not allow Mike to continue making irrational decisions based on the nonmaleficence principle. This ethical principle requires physicians not to contribute to harming the patient. Allowing Mike to continue making decisions that have proved ineffective not only causes suffering and pain to James but also deprives them of the foods of life. According to nonmaleficence, the physician should weigh the benefits of Mike's interventions against the need for a kidney transplant that is proven effective in improving patient outcomes (Varkey, 2021). Although patient autonomy is important, the physician's decision would not undermine James' autonomy because he is a minor and lacks the capacity to act autonomously.
Part 2 Response
Biblical insights should guide a Christian's conception of sickness and health. The foundational principle is that all people are created in God's image, as noted in Genesis Chapter 1, verse 27. This implies that everyone in this scenario has an inherent worth and divine identity. This implies the need for the parent to treat all their children with dignity and respect to live lives that reflect God's purpose and love. In this vein, the ethical principle of beneficence reinforces Mark 12:31, where God commands Christians to love their neighbor as themselves (English Standard Version Bible, 2001). This greatest commandment is congruent with the beneficence principle because they both encourage avoiding harm and acting for our neighbors' benefit and welfare. In the case scenario, Mike and Joanne are facing a dilemma regarding the potential impact of the transplant on Samuel. However, the parents can decide to get Samuel to donate his kidney to his twin brother, James, based on the Christian worldview.
Regarding how Christians think about medical intervention, their spirituality should help them demonstrate autonomy by emphasizing the patient's or family's choices. In this context, the autonomy principle coincides with the Christian a...