Ethical reflections on how health professionals should answer the Question: What would you do if this were your family member?

Author:

Asai Atsushi1ORCID,Fukuyama Miki2,Ohnishi Motoki3

Affiliation:

1. Department of Medical Ethics, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan

2. Course of Nursing, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

3. Department of Health and Welfare Public Policy, Laboratory of Public Health, Aomori University of Health and Welfare Graduate School of Health Science, Aomori, Japan

Abstract

Patient families sometimes ask health professionals, ‘What would you do if this were your family member?’ The purpose of this paper is to examine appropriate responses to this Question. Health professionals may say, ‘It all depends on the patient's wishes’, or ‘I don't know what is best, because my family is different from yours in many ways’. Some may believe that the most favourable course of action is the same regardless of who the patient is and explain this to the patient's family, while others may refuse to answer the Question saying it is personal, or argue that such a Question should neither be asked nor answered because it is unreasonable and unprofessional to do so. We believe that, in principle, health professionals should give an honest answer as to what they would do if the patient was their family member, recognising and empathising with the fact that the patient's family is in a difficult and vulnerable position, and that their circumstances forced them to ask such a Question. Moreover, personal and emotional views of health professionals regarding treatment options may help the patient's family make important decisions. An honest answer will help strengthen the trusting relationship between health professionals and the patient's family and support their decision-making.

Funder

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Philosophy,Issues, ethics and legal aspects,Medicine (miscellaneous)

Reference15 articles.

1. Warraich HJ. If this were your mother, doctor…’ The New York Times 2013, August 1. Retrieved from: https://archive.nytimes.com/well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/01/if-this-was-your-mother-doctor/ (accessed on 9 September 2022).

2. What would you do if this were your mother?

3. Nimura I Edition. Kojien 7th Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 2018 (Japanese Dictionary)

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