The current debate that surrounds the issue of patient rights and the transformation of health care, social insurance, and reimbursement systems has put the topic of patient responsibility on both the public and health care sectors' agenda. This climate of debate and transition provides an ideal time to rethink patient responsibilities, together with their underlying rationale, and to determine if they are properly represented when being called `patient' responsibilities. In this article we analyze the various types of patient responsibilities, identify (...) the underlying motivations behind their creation, and conclude upon their sensibleness and merit. The range of patient responsibilities that have been proposed and implemented can be reclassified and placed into one of four groups, which are more accurate descriptors of the nature of these responsibilities. We suggest that, within the framework of a free-market system, where health care services are provided based on the ability to pay for them, none of these can properly be justified as a patient responsibility. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of euthanasia education on the opinions of health sciences students. It was performed among 111 final year students at the College of Health Sciences, Dokuz Eylül University, IRzmir, Turkey. These students train to become paramedical professionals and health technicians. Fifteen hours of educational training concerning ethical values and euthanasia was planned and the students’ opinions about euthanasia were sought before and after the course. Statistical analyses of the data were performed (...) with the related samples t -test by means of the Epi-Info program. Significant changes were shown in the students’ opinions on people’s right to decide about their own life, euthanasia in unconscious patients, and reasons for their objection to euthanasia after completing the course. The results of this study suggest that education can significantly change a person’s approach to euthanasia. (shrink)

Victims of disaster suffer, not only at the very moment of the disaster, but also years after the disaster has taken place, they are still in an emotional journey. While many moral perspectives focus on the moment of the disaster itself, a lot of work is to be done years after the disaster. How do people go through their suffering and how can we take care of them? Research on human suffering after a major catastrophe, using an ethics of care (...) perspective, is scarce. People suffering from disasters are often called to be in distress and their emotional difficulties ‘medicalised’. This brings them often into a situation of long term use of medication, and one can wonder if medication is of help to them in the long run. In our paper, we will explore another moral perspective, focusing on the importance of the victims’ narrative and their lived experiences. We will use Paul Ricoeur’s phenomenological reflections from ‘Suffering is not the same as pain’ for conceptualizing human suffering and how to apply it to victims of disaster. Ricoeur suggests that suffering is not a quantity that can be measured, but a characteristic that should be studied qualitatively in interpersonal and narrative contexts. Above all, the perspective of care and listening could offer an opportunity to reconcile people from their loss and suffering. (shrink)

Die Möglichkeit zur Organtransplantation kreierte neue Probleme für die Medizinethik wie auch für die klinische Medizin. Eines davon, die Organbeschaffung, versucht man hauptsächlich mithilfe zweier Systeme anzugehen. Zahlreiche Staaten haben das ‚OptinSystem’ angenommen, das die Bewusstseinserhöhung sowie Selbstentscheidung der Einzelnen zur Organspende anzielt. Das andere System, das ‚Optout’ bzw. die ‚angenommene Zustimmung’, das sämtliche Gesellschaftsmitglieder als potenzielle Organspender ansieht, wurde von einigen Staaten übernommen. In diesem System sollen Einzelne ausdrücklich erklären, sie wollen keine Organe spenden, anderenfalls werden sie für Organspender (...) gehalten. Indem wir unser Argument auf unterschiedliche Rechtfertigungen zu gründen suchen, behaupten wir, das OptoutSystem zur Organbeschaffung sei eine gerechtere Option in puncto Recht auf Zugang zur notwendigen Gesundheitsfürsorge, und demzufolge solle es anstelle des Optin implementiert werden. (shrink)

There is a strong association between reliance on the promotional activities of pharmaceutical companies and a generally less appropriate use of prescription drugs. Pharmaceutical companies direct some of their promotion towards health workers who do not have the authority to prescribe medicines, such as nurses in certain countries. The aim of this study was to determine the impact that exposure to the marketing methods of pharmaceutical companies has on judgments made by nursing students about health worker—pharmaceutical company relationships. A cross-sectional (...) survey was carried out with 442 nursing students in Istanbul, Turkey. The exposure of students to the marketing methods of pharmaceutical companies, whether it be indirectly through observation or directly by first-hand experience, increases the probability that students will adopt rationales that underlie affirmative judgments of health worker—pharmaceutical company relationships. Based on the pervasiveness and ability of drug promotion to influence the perceptions of students, it is imperative that attempts be made to reduce its negative impact. (shrink)

Most physicians confront the moral and technical challenges of treating persons who are coming to the natural end of their lives. At the level of the health system, this issue becomes a more pressing area for reform as premature death decreases and more people live a full life span. Well-developed countries and international organizations such as the World Health Organization and the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development have made recommendations for improving healthcare problems in aging societies. Turkey belongs to (...) the WHO and the OECD. This article describes end-of-life healthcare in Turkey, the design of the healthcare system to meet this need, challenges that should be addressed, and solutions that would be appropriate to Turkish culture and resources. (shrink)

Evidence proves that physician involvement in torture is widely practiced in society. Despite its status as an illegal act as established by multiple international organizations, mandates are routinely unheeded and feebly enforced. Philosophies condemning and condoning torture are examined as well as physicians’ professional responsibilities and the manner in which such varying allegiances can be persuasive. Physician involvement in torture has proven detrimental to the core values of medicine and has tainted the field’s commitment to individuals’ health and well-being. Only (...) when this complex issue is addressed using a multilevel approach will the moral rehabilitation of medicine begin. (shrink)