RADICAL SURGERY AND CONSENT

Radical Surgery and Consent



Radical Surgery and Consent

Introduction

Mostly medical professionals found it difficult to obtain the consent of patients or his/er guardians for necessary medical treatments, which could save the life of the/ir patient. There are several barriers in this regard, that limits people to decide what is right or wrong for patients. Such barriers include lack of awareness, religious approach, fear, inadequate knowledge regarding medical treatment etc.

In this paper, several advices would be suggested to the Mary's family, who are not giving their consent to surgeons to perform a radical surgery of Mary, which could save her life. Mary is actually a 16 year old disabled girl, who is eight weeks pregnant. She has been taken for abortion and during abortion doctors encounter that she has fibroids all over her uterus. Doctors recommended hysterectomy for her in order to make sure that uterine fibroids will not develop into cancer, which still is incurable. But Mary's family is not facilitating surgeons with their consent which will ultimately endanger the life of Mary.

It is necessary for medical professionals in most of the cases especially surgeries and operations, to get the consent of patient in case of adult or consent of the guardians in case of minors. If a professional overlooked the importance of consent of the patient or family this would be considered as an assault on the patient. Certain guidelines should be followed before obtaining the consent which entails:

The patient should be completely informed by the medical professional about all relevant information in connection to the treatment or examination.

Secondly, competency of patient to understand the treatment or examination is must and should have the capacity to make right decision for him.

Lastly, consent should be voluntarily provided by patient or his/her guardians for the medical treatment or examination. (Bortin & Bucker 1993, Pp. 916-921)

What is uterine fibroid?

Uterine fibroid is a benign tumor (non-cancerous) that could develop into cancer if not treated properly. This tumor originates from a smooth layer of muscle called myometrium and other connective tissues accompanying of the uterus. (Pellegrino 1992, Pp. 1734-1735)

This is one of the most common types of benign tumor that occurs in female found during the middle and later reproductive years. Fibroids can interfere in the pregnancy, but their growth can also cause painful menstruation, sexual intercourse and will increase the frequency and urgency of urination.

One of the simplest solutions to stop the growth of fibroids is hysterectomy. Hysterectomy is a process of surgically removing the uterus. Doctors often refer complete which includes removing the body, fundus, and cervix of the uterus and partial refers to removal of uterus while the ovaries remain undamaged. (Tobias & Souhami 1993, Pp. 1199-1201)

Side effects of hysterectomy

Like many other medical treatment, hysterectomy has also a lot of side effects that mostly bar patients to undergo this surgery. As the types have already been mentioned above, it is vital to describe the side effects of both partial and complete ...