Ca c'est fini

French for "It's finished." I'm referring to med ethics. Thank goodness it's over. A lot of work for only a little bit of credit. What's frustrating is that no matter how well you do on the quizzes or presentation, it comes down to the final for everyone, since the final was 70% of our grade.

I passed, so yippee!! My frantic schedule will calm down some, as this class no longer sucks away 2 hours of my afternoon (3 days a week).

Want some advice? Never lie to your patient. Otherwise, you not only ruin the patient-doctor relationship that you have established, but you also deface the reputation of the medical profession. This is common sense, yes, but was also taught in class. Now, here's the kicker: patient comes in and needs a kidney transplant. She has 2 sisters who go for donation testing, and one sister is found to be a match. The doctor discusses with this sister about donation, upon which, she decides she's too scared to undergo the operation. What does the doctor do? Tell the patient that her sister is a match but doesn't want to donate OR tell the sister that both sisters were not compatible?

The right answer would be the latter: to tell the patient that neither sister is able to donate. I didn't agree with this and talked to the ethics professor. My arguement was that it was lying and would therefore ruin any rapport that the doctor had established with the patient. The prof's response was that you were protecting an arguement within the family. My next thought was what would happen if the sister decided to admit that she was a candidate, but was too scared to donate? The patient would remember the doctor lying to her.

I didn't win my arguement, and I still don't see why. What do you guys think? Part of our medical training (in 4th semester) is learning about setting up a rapport and proper communication skills with patients. This means that, if, God forbid, you make a mistake, you own up it. You never fluff, and you are always straight with the patient, even when giving bad news. This allows the patient autonomy...by presenting the patient with complete facts and options, the patient can decided what is best for themselves.

Shoot me a comment and let me know what you think!