Crumley 1

Brenndan Crumley
Medicine & Society
14 September 2015
Group C
TA: Archi
Leveling the Playing Field in Healthcare
Informed consent and the admission of medical errors are two issues that have become
increasingly important in the relationship between physicians and patients in the past few years,
as evidenced in the reading and in current medical events. While other aspects of healthcare (like
insurance) are also hot button issues, informed consent and admission of error are two of the
most important and most immediate issues. They are important because they reflect the need for
a more cooperative and less paternalistic relationship between healthcare providers and their
patients. Informed consent and medical errors will be examined separately to show that they
serve as a litmus for the state of doctor-patient relationships.
Part of the reason that informed consent is so key to patient rights is because it represents
the imperative for doctors to place the needs of their patients above (or at the very least, at the
same level as) their own egos and thought processes as trained physicians. The American
medical system has often been criticized for the way that patients are expected to blindly do what
their doctor says without question. Indeed, patients who disagree with their doctor or do not
firmly adhere to treatments are given the stigmatizing label of noncompliant, which biases
future healthcare encounters against them. This is why informed consent is so important: it rests
upon the foundational concept that a patient must be able to understand the nature of a treatment
or procedure in order to consent to it. While a doctor may think their rote, science-heavy
explanation adequately explains a procedure and its associated risks, depending on a patients
background and life experience they may not fully understand what they are consenting to.
Doctors need to tailor their explanations and illustrations to individual patients to make sure that

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the information really sinks in. Indeed, when things arent explained at a level that patients can
understand, it might be a reason why they do not fully comply with the advice of their doctor.
Doctors must take the extra steps needed to ensure their patients have the agency to control their
own healthcare. As Katz says, altruism can only promise that doctors will try to prioritize their
patients beliefs and needs above their own; they must take initiative to foster a cooperative
healthcare environment rather than a paternalistic one (Katz, 94). Informed consent must be
practiced properly so patients and doctors can have a truly cooperative relationship.
The admission of medical errors (or lack thereof, perhaps) is the result of attitudes similar
to those fostering the need to reform informed consent. For much of the history of Western
biomedicine, doctors have sat on an almost godlike pedestal: their authority and knowledge were
both assumed to be absolute. However, doctors, being human, do make mistakes. When medical
errors are made, it is crucial that doctors own up to them and apologize. This helps patients and
their families know that their doctor is truly sorry for the error that was made and that their
doctor cares, and it also helps doctors learn. The reading is correct that truthfulness is a
cornerstone of the physician-patient relationship (Baylis, 110). Just as physicians work best
when their patients are truthful about their health history, so do patients feel more confident in
their doctors and their health outcome when their doctor is honest. Truthfulness, like informed
consent, is key to establishing a cooperative culture of medicine that is so desperately needed.
Unlike insurance or work hour limits, informed consent and admission of medical errors
seem to be quite tricky to solve with legislation, partially because of how much they influence
the way doctors see themselves and how their patients see them. Nevertheless, reform in both
areas is needed if patients are to have the agency they deserve in their healthcare, and so the
medical profession can evolve to adapt to changing social conditions.

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References
Baylis, Franois. "Errors in Medicine: Nurturing Truthfulness." Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine. Ed.
Bonnie Steinbock, John D. Arras, and Alex John. London. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 107-11.
Print.
Katz, Jay. "Informed Consent - Must It Remain a Fairy Tale?" Ed. Bonnie Steinbock, John D. Arras,
and Alex John. London. Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 92100. Print.