How Religion Poses An Ethical Dilemma In Healing Of Sicknesses (Case Study Sample)

Healing and Autonomy Name Instructor’s Name Institution Healing and autonomy Introduction Do you believe in miracles in the contemporary society? Personally, I think miracles do not happen on their own. It is through several interacting factors. Trust me you are not going to sit there and say God is going to remove the bullet in my chest and heal me. You will die no matter how strong your faith is and the number of prayers you make. You have to seek medication. God helps those who help themselves. Some good judgment must be made based on the presenting situation. If you truly value life, it is essential to balance between religious life and spiritual life. Different people bearing different denominations have an entirely different perception of medical treatment and healing. They have a right since it plays significant roles in their lives in one way or the other. However, the very beliefs pose a conflict of interest and hinderance to provision of quality healthcare services. This paper analyzes Christian issues concerning treatment, bioethical principles, and Christians’ perception towards health and sickness basing on the case study provided on healing and autonomy. Case Study Analysis The world is full of all sorts of diseases and so is everyone at risk of developing an illness. We all have fallen sick from a particular ailment at one point in life. Illness and disease freak out everyone, but you got to have it handled. Sickness works against one’s strength leaving them writhing in bed unable to move, and some even succumb to death within the shortest time ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"w8wr2rd9","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Barnes, Plotnikoff, Fox, & Pendleton, 2000)","plainCitation":"(Barnes, Plotnikoff, Fox, & Pendleton, 2000)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":200,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/MqS91Xa3/items/XJYZLQ9X"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/MqS91Xa3/items/XJYZLQ9X"],"itemData":{"id":200,"type":"article-journal","title":"Spirituality, religion, and pediatrics: Intersecting worlds of healing","container-title":"Pediatrics","page":"899–908","volume":"106","issue":"Supplement 3","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Spirituality, religion, and pediatrics","author":[{"family":"Barnes","given":"Linda L."},{"family":"Plotnikoff","given":"Gregory A."},{"family":"Fox","given":"Kenneth"},{"family":"Pendleton","given":"Sara"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2000"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Barnes, Plotnikoff, Fox, & Pendleton, 2000). Sickness comes with anxiety, fear, sorrow, and pain. We are in one body, soul and mind with God and illnesses cause despair and most profound desperation. Every human being gets afflicted with ailments and diseases, and no Christian is exempted. Some preachers teach false doctrines that no one is to fall ill and that whenever it happens God will provide healing promptly. Those Christians who truly understand the gospel, know very well that God uses those desperate moments to strengthen us to follow his purpose in our lives and become conquerors during hard times. This brings us to our case study on healing and autonomy. Mike and Joanne are firm believers blessed with 8-year-old twins; James and Samuel. James develops kidney failure. The fact that they are staunch Christians who have a strong faith and believe in prayer, they are faced with a situation where they have to decide whether to go ahead with treatment or believe and trust in God for healing. It worsens when their son’s condition becomes alarming, and the doctor tells them he needs to be donated a kidney which is only compatible with his twin brother’s. This presents both a spiritual and ethical dilemma. Christian Faith vs Medical Treatment There are various Christian issues addressed in the case study. It is vitally important to acknowledge that there are a vast of versions of Christian faith each with a different interpretation of Christianity and utterly different perception towards medical treatment and healing. For instance, Baptists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Protestants all have variations in the understanding of the scripture ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"oorIdN6Q","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Barnes et al., 2000)","plainCitation":"(Barnes et al., 2000)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":200,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/MqS91Xa3/items/XJYZLQ9X"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/MqS91Xa3/items/XJYZLQ9X"],"itemData":{"id":200,"type":"article-journal","title":"Spirituality, religion, and pediatrics: Intersecting worlds of healing","container-title":"Pediatrics","page":"899–908","volume":"106","issue":"Supplement 3","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Spirituality, religion, and pediatrics","author":[{"family":"Barnes","given":"Linda L."},{"family":"Plotnikoff","given":"Gregory A."},{"family":"Fox","given":"Kenneth"},{"family":"Pendleton","given":"Sara"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2000"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Barnes et al., 2000). As a result, some denominations for example Catholics emphasize that medicine and physicians were brought on earth to provide medical care and to heal through the guidance of God. This implies that God is working out with the doctors and it is therefore rightfully and dutifully just to seek medication whenever ill to prevent severe injuries and death. One should do all it takes to save a life. Antithetically, Jehovah’s witnesses, disagree with on some life-saving actions like blood transfusion and organ transplantation. It is against their Christian beliefs. Hence, you cannot make a general conclusion about Christian narrative because of the difference in Christian faiths ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"2MYlqE5i","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Barnes et al., 2000)","plainCitation":"(Barnes et al., 2000)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":200,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/MqS91Xa3/items/XJYZLQ9X"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/MqS91Xa3/items/XJYZLQ9X"],"itemData":{"id":200,"type":"article-journal","title":"Spirituality, religion, and pediatrics: Intersecting worlds of healing","container-title":"Pediatrics","page":"899–908","volume":"106","issue":"Supplement 3","source":"Google Scholar","shortTitle":"Spirituality, religion, and pediatrics","author":[{"family":"Barnes","given":"Linda L."},{"family":"Plotnikoff","given":"Gregory A."},{"family":"Fox","given":"Kenneth"},{"family":"Pendleton","given":"Sara"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2000"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Barnes et al., 2000). Some of the Christian issues portrayed are ethical and moral issues. The problems form the necessary foundation for making decisions based on beliefs on whether to undergo or forego treatment. Mikes’s faith costs him and places the innocent James in a critical situation almost receiving a death sentence due to his parents’ refusal and delay to heed doctor’s advice to have the child treated. Mike is also faced with the issue ethical dilemma. The dilemma entails taking the kidney from the remaining healthy child to give it to the sick one. The ethical concerns arise when the is unable or rather old enough to give informed consent to save his brother’s life; this raises serious ethical concerns. Another issue is faith and prayer in a way that it affects their decision-making process. The couple is faced with a situation where they have to decide on who to trust between science and supernatural being. As a result, they delay treatment waiting for God’s miracle upon the child which does not happen. Due to procrastination, the child’s condition becomes life-threatening. He now wonders whether it is a punishment or God’s test of his faith. Ethical Dilemma The physician is also faced with the conflict of interest on whether to continue allowing mike to make decisions that seem harmful and irrational to James. The role of the physician is to listen, provide care and advice with the aim of delivering quality care and saving lives. The medical care provided should be of informed consent and irrespective of one’s ethnic origin or spiritual beliefs. However, under certain circumstances such as life-and-death, the ethical principles can be violated since they are not mechanically rigid ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"R8xKY4R5","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Wood, 2001)","plainCitation":"(Wood, 2001)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":197,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/MqS91Xa3/items/FNLVNXC8"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/MqS91Xa3/items/FNLVNXC8"],"itemData":{"id":197,"type":"article-journal","title":"Ethical decision making","container-title":"Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing","page":"6–10","volume":"16","issue":"1","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Wood","given":"Jacqueline"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2001"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Wood, 2001). For this case, the physician must actively take part and help James’ parents understand what ...