PHL 325M Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Medical Error, Paternalism
24 Feb 2017
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A little bit of paternalism is okay being that physicians have a socially constructive role. Physicians should learn from their patient and maybe change their minds/reevaluate. Normally patient wants an apology for error. Kantian: diverting from your duty, no false promises, taking responsibility for your actions, it is wrong to not be honest about medical error. Utilitarian: minimize suffering, positive consequences, if the negatives outweigh the positives then honestly is not the best policy. If error is too big, their anxiety is appropriate/warranted. But they will make mistakes as there are risks sometimes. Not necessarily errors when something goes wrong. People make doctors into super human beings. Want people to understand that there are mistakes. We want the truth to be in control. Explicit truth always has a little something going for them. Might not be able to choose the right care if not told you"re going to die.
