Influential Ethics for July

Doctor Loyalty and Personal Bias (Part Two of Six)

 

What about the ability to facilitate patient care and ongoing care options based on a combination of medical, personal, and logistical avenues discussed by the patient? What does this even mean; shouldn’t all care options be inclusive of all of these things? Yes, technically, but this isn’t always the case which is where the question of doctor loyalty comes into play. To help answer this question, we could discuss what patient care means on an individual level regarding medical care. Does this only entail clinical studies and medicine or does this include alternative healing methods and homeopathic medicine? This asks a further question: Should your physician give you the option of alternative medicine as part of your care?

 

In this context, the medical part of these avenues that need to be discussed can range from the traditional note taking and diagnostic angle, to the inclusion of supplements to be taken with medication, to alternative treatment options, to home based care, depending on the needs of the patient. One of the issues with this approach is that physicians are usually only trained in one aspect of care without the use of alternative methods. Many of these alternative methods are also illegal to be practiced in certain areas which limits the patients’ options for an ongoing care package from a personal level. If your physician can’t offer medicinal relief with a supplement to take with (not in place of) your medication, you might feel that your health isn’t taken seriously enough: You might ask for something less clinical from your clinical doctor and if they can’t give that to you, you might feel you have run out of medical options.

 

What about your personal options? Does this mean different medical avenues where your personal circumstances and illness is taken into account? Shouldn’t that be the case in all doctor’s consultations? By personal options, I mean the options you have based on specific medically necessary factors of your individual circumstances like mobility issues, any type of disability you may have, or personal opinions you may have about the medical field in general. For example, if you have been told your entire life that “There isn’t anything wrong with you,” only to have a new physician state you have a chronic illness years after feeling like you’re on Death’s door every day.

 

If your current physician is the one who tried to convince you that there wasn’t anything wrong with you in the past, any medical advice they try to give you might not be understood as that important or relevant because in the back of your mind, you could be thinking “They were wrong the last time, what if they’re wrong again?” This is an example of a personal issue that could get in the way of the combined effort needed required to facilitate patient care, and without this trust, how will you heal from anything?

 

The logistical and personal avenues can be somewhat linked regarding mobility issues because of how complicated location and accessibility can be for those who have different mobility and/or visual/hearing issues. A person who uses a wheelchair will need an access ramp into the medical facility and depending on their disability, they might need someone to push them around (automated wheelchairs are an option but they are usually a lot more expensive than the others so for many people or families, this isn’t an option).

 

While these ramps are common in medical facilities like hospitals and clinics, smaller, home-based primary care provider locations are often lacking in these amenities which reduces the opportunity of combined care for patients who may need some extra help. Another logistical issue is paperwork: If you or another patient need help with paperwork from a language/translation or comprehension (age may be a factor here where an elderly patient may not understand the terms and conditions) perspective, combining all these medical feats may not be as simple as it seems.

 

If this is indeed a language/translation barrier, an underfunded hospital or clinic may not have the resources for translation services if a family member of the patient is unavailable. This could put their diagnosis or treatment on hold regarding ongoing care. For an all-inclusive treatment option for all patients regardless of their mobility and other needs, all of these factors (medical, personal, and logistical) need to be considered as a whole. While this is important for the patient, doctor loyalty and personal bias based on past treatment can be as easily influenced by outside factors. Doctor loyalty, however, works both ways: Doctor loyalty to their own distribution channels and friends in the business can also influence the treatment of their patients, which in turn influences how their patients view their own biases now and in the future.

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Notable philosophers:

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I will post the questions from Piece and References in the final blogacle.

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