The end of our ethics module

Ethics module has been quite an interesting course till the end, as it enabled me and surely other participants to think out the box, think of things that are happening everyday around us that we never consider unless they happen to us. I specifically liked the fact that the module was online, this creating a platform for me to be able to say my views and opinions on certain topics.  I would not have been able to say some of my views if we had to have a class discussion, unless questions were directed specifically to me, I do not like public speaking or having to stand in front of a crowed to make a speech or something.

Throughout the course I have learnt quite a ton of knowledge whether it be things relating to the topics or scenarios and or videos posted by the other participants which might have been relevant to the topic of the week. I agree with Emma Gondwe in her last blog, “The choice of topics could not have been better.” They are definitely related to us as health professionals, discussing them as a group during the course will result in better ways of dealing with scenarios relating to torture, discrimination and or empathy in clinical practise. It was quite difficult at first as I was unsure of what exactly is expected of me to write from each topic, but as soon as I started reading other person’s blogs and comments also thinking about my experiences in the different topics, watching TED videos enabled a better understanding of the topics and therefore was able to write up thoughts surrounding the topics.

My thoughts and or views around most of the topics discussed in the different weeks have not changed much, as my experiences and beliefs are still the same as well. But I have a lot of respect and understanding for the other participant’s opinions as well. I enjoyed reading their opinions/views and reasons behind them. It was amazing how people’s emotions are evoked just by speaking about certain topics, this resulting from their experiences or beliefs around the topics.

During the first week the topic was empathy and questions such as; how much is too much, flew around in our heads. Through reading opinions I realised and learnt how I would personally deal with this in clinical practise. It is very important to understand your patient’s needs and also your needs as a person and a health professional. Empathy plays an important role with understanding our patients and also influences positive treatment for patients. I have noticed how important empathy is when treating patients and it creates better connections and improves the patient’s mood and satisfaction even half-way through treatment.  Providing empathy to patients during treatment sessions is a challenge as for instance I personally take patient problems to heart and therefore end up cradling my patients which is sometimes not helpful for some patients.  Through reading other participant’s views and opinions and reasons behind them I personally got to understand why too much empathy in sometimes not helpful and I will definitely learn from that and apply it during clinical practice.

Something else that I have learnt and have found useful in the online ethics course, we interacted with our class mates and got a feel of how they react in certain clinical scenarios and also what their views are, with that you get to know the person just a bit more and also receive the opportunity to learn a different way of dealing with the same or a similar problem, if you one day find yourself in the situation.

Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn. Benjamin Franklin

Thank you to the course coordinators, our knowledge in topics discussed in the course has been broadened.    

Torture : To whom does it benefit

The act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty.

“Pain produces progress. So if you truly love me, you will try to hurt me as much as you can. If you really want me to grow as a person, you will water me with betrayal, abuse, neglect, derision, thievery, and possibly even torture.” 
― Jarod Kintz, Love quotes for the ages. Specifically ages 18-81.

The above quote produces another thought around torture; the individual in the quote wants to be tortured in order to feel. When I think of the word torture, I immediately think pain, and this instantly changes my mood and attitude towards anything or anyone putting this upon another human being. There are different types of torture and different reasons why people are tortured. Does being tortured become beneficial to the individual providing it, to what extent should people be tortured, is it ethical to torture someone else for benefits.

In Dan Ariely’s lecture called the buggy code, he tells his story about when he had burned 70% of his body and had to stay months in the hospital until he had recovered.

When he was burnt really badly, Irrationality that struck him was the process that the nurses used to take the bandages off. He wonders what way would have caused him less pain, ripping it off quickly with a disadvantage of a higher intensity of pain or more slowly which will take longer obviously but possibly cause him less pain. The nurses at the hospital thought the right approach was the ripping one. He had 70 percent of his body burnt, he say it took about an hour to complete this. This interested him to such an extent that he went on to do research on it. They were various techniques. He concluded that the nurses were wrong, that as humans we code intensity and time differently. His research only deduced that starting from the face down, which is starting with the more sensitive areas down to the legs and for him he could gradually experience less and less pain, would cause him less pain and also taking breaks so he can recuperate from the pain. This to me is torture and according to the nurses they were correct and he had no say to the way they did it. This is very painful and another example of torture, to the nurses it doesn’t seem like he is being torture but only being taken care of preventing him from getting infections and promoting his healing. One of the nurses, he says at the end of the video said as she liked him so much he did not like seeing him being hurt like that, that she wanted to quickly do it and get over it. This can be a typical example of torture for a good reason, some would think.

Our loving God says do not do unto others what you don’t want done unto   you.  There are also they saying that two wrongs do not make right. But in some instances I would agree with torture especially if it benefits and is agreed upon our law; example I saw this in a movie where a man had placed five bombs around his country, he did this due to anger something was done to him. This will obviously kill many people for the benefit of one. I would definitely be one of those people agreeing to his torture for truth and or justice.  By this torture I don’t mean killing the person but making him speak out to where the bombs are and how they can be switched off. Torturing people due to envy and own personal benefit is definitely wrong.  Humans are uniquely created beings therefore people will have different opinions and some will be totally against either way cause of religious beliefs, but this is how I would reason accepting torture.

Equality in health care

Equality deals with having the same opportunities and rights for everyone in the country regardless of race or gender. During the apartheid era this was not true for everyone. Equality was one of the problems which people who lived in the apartheid era or who experienced it struggled with. Laws that benefited the apartheid systems were implemented; these laws excluded and or included specific groups and promoted segregation and discrimination; which lead to inequality. Certain people received certain opportunities and certain people did not. This was due to systems and or practices created to separate races. The color of your skin played a huge part to what you were able to do, where you were able to walk etc.

Luckily after Mandela’s release a free society with equal opportunities was created. This has resulted in the so called free society that we now live in with everyone having equal opportunities regardless of your race or gender. Are we really equal; is there equal opportunity for all? I don’t think so. Documentaries on our television are shown almost every week of unjust practices all around the world.

I will just elaborate on our health care system, to me it seems as, if you do not have enough money you will not be able to get reliable and up to standard medical care. There still is a rural area somewhere from which medical services do not exist and if they do they are not up to standard. From the time of apartheid era to now, access to health care has improved for the public but; the quality of the health care has definitely dropped. Members of medical aid schemes are able to attend private quality hospitals which have attracted most of the available health professionals.

South African society might have been freed from apartheid laws that benefited specific groups, everyone currently has a right to quality health care, but there is still quite a lot of struggle within society in accessing quality health care.

According to the South African info site “the public sector is stretched and under-resourced in places. While the state contributes about 40% of all expenditure on health, the public health sector is under pressure to deliver services to about 80% of the population”.

That 80 percent of our population are people who are currently not under any medical aid scheme, majority of them are uneducated and or unemployed. Clearly these people are struggling to get medical care thus indicating that they are not being cured at all, or they receive a month’s worth of treatment every three months. They cannot afford to go buy more medication when they run out; they have to wait until it becomes available again.

You will find that in poor communities doctors are said to be available once a month only and even when they are available they are able to see so many people. What about the others who have also waited the whole month to see a health professional. Even when a community clinic is available within reach in the community, you will often find medical equipment broken and or medication still under order and not available. Obviously for a person who is able to buy his or her medication and or be seen by a health professional in private sector, things for those individuals go much more smoothly. Poverty, unemployment and education play quite a big role with equality within the health sector.

I could sit here the whole day reading and researching about equality in our society in this new democratic era, I will find many more unjust practices leading to discrimination and inequality, in the workplace, community and in schools. At one point xenophobia was huge on our screens and communities, discrimination against foreigners. This clearly states that there are quite a few issues that need to be addressed in order to freely be in an almost perfect democratic society.

The government needs to work hand in hand with health professionals in creating and implementing strategies and or policies which will benefit all parties involved and also help combat all or some of the problems faced by our country.

Not only poverty, but inequality decimates the health of our people.

— Dr. David Hilfiker

To be without health insurance in this country means to be without access to medical care. But health is not a luxury, nor should it be the sole possession of a privileged few. We are all createdb’tzelem elohim — in the image of God — and this makes each human life as precious as the next. By ‘pricing out’ a portion of this country’s population from health care coverage, we mock the image of God and destroy the vessels of God’s work.

— Rabbi Alexander Schindler, Past President, Union of American Hebrew Congregations [1992]

 

On morality

Morality means being able to use your principles and or beliefs to decide on what is wrong or right.

I was watching a video on TED by Dan Ariely called the Buggy code. In this video he speaks about a lot of things, his experiences, his research etc around intuition and morals. What stood out for me in his lecture and what became very interesting was how the same person’s behaviour can change due to a change in their surroundings.  I agree with him as even with good religious well educated people, immoral decisions can be made. It all depends on what’s in it for the person and if any consequences are involved that might jeopardise the individual’s reputation.  In his research a lot of people lied a little in order gain money, and they lied because they were verbally asked the questions at the end, with them knowing that they have destroyed the proof therefore no one is to know the real truth regarding how many questions they were able to answer in the test, within the given time.

After a long day of begging people for money, without any success, a street kid is bound to grab someone’s handbag or wallet for money. So how would we judge this? For the person who has lost her belongings it is devastating and immoral to grab and not ask, but surely according to the kid if he had asked for money the victim would have probably said no and walked just a little faster anyway. Therefore sometimes bad things are done for a good purpose.  Until you are in that person’s shoes living their life you are unable to put reasons behind why they do certain things. For e.g. why the child ran away from home, instead of being at home with loving parents, getting full meals and going to school like normal children, would be a question on a lot of spectators minds.  It might be that there are no parents at all back at home or there is a step mother of father who is very abusive, and has been for many years to such an extent that the child felt safer in the streets than in his own home. Sometimes bad things are done by people not because they choose to do them but because of their experiences. Yes doing bad because bad was done unto you is not what the bible tells us to do but it definitely does happen in our society. Education, religion and maybe being taught what is wrong and right from a very young age might lower the chances of many persons acting immorally.

I grew up with only one parent, my mother. My mother is a God fearing woman and to me very moral. Most of my decisions whether wrong or right to another person but obviously right to me, come from what I have learnt to be right  from my mother, my own knowledge so far and obviously religion, what I currently believe in.

Many people are smart enough to decide on what is wrong and or right but due to lacking knowledge, experiences and or benefits coming from the decision being made, people can be pushed on to make immoral decisions. Obviously according to them and their own beliefs it is moral or they just cannot do otherwise knowing that it is immoral.

“So far, about morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.” 
― Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon

 

Does quality health care include empathy…but where should the line be drawn?

To me empathy means being able to put yourself in another person’s shoes to understand them and share the same feelings.  Empathy to me plays quite a big role in our everyday lives in order to live comfortably around other people it also enable good relations to be created. I mean if you empathise with people they will empathise with you. Being an insensitive person will result in a less meaningful life with people without any feelings.

 In the health field patients are able to open up more if they see an understanding personality. Providing empathy to people or specifically patients leads to them being able to trust you and they are able to see that you are serious about helping them and are taking their problems seriously. To me this seems like a great way to an effective treatment plan. As the patient will not see any need to hide valuable information about their problems and or disorder.  

 But the questions lies in how much empathy should be provided as it might also be a disadvantage in a sense that the person will take advantage of the health professional and their kindness. So what does this mean for us health professional?  Should there be a limit to the amount of empathy/sympathy provided to patients so to avoid being taken advantage of but ensuring enough trust between the patient and the professional. This we will hopefully learn throughout the course and from other people’s point of views in the different blogs. At the end of the course hopefully we will be able to know exactly how to empathise with the different patient scenarios and exactly where we should draw the line.

                                                                                                                        

Hi everyone…

My name is Busisiwe surname is Moni, I am 21 years old. I am originally from the Eastern Cape South Africa. I currently reside in the Western Cape for study purposes. I am a third year student pursuing a career in Physiotherapy at the University of the Western Cape. I believe that I am a humble and friendly person. I am passionate about health and medicine. I went on to study physiotherapy as it was the only course that I got into that would allow me to be in a hospital environment. I have big dreams some of them include making as much difference as I possibly can in the health sector. I hope one day I will look back at my years in physiotherapy or any other health profession I might in the future go into and be proud of my contributions to the field. I am very passionate about anything that has to do with lending a hand to those in need, maybe that’s one of the reasons why I do what i do.

In my spare time I love listening to soul ballads and reading anything that will motivate me to become a better person whether it be a page or two in a magazine or a proper book.  I also enjoy lazing around watching movies and being around my family and friends.

 I don t like public speaking and at times I feel I have quite a few valid points that could contribute to a debate/ conversation but if it means being the centre of attention, I will pass.

Looking forward to sharing my views on ethics and learning from everyone else participating in the course.

xoxo 

Busi