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Essay / Increased Patient Responsibility - 1580
We like to think of medicine as a vast ocean of knowledge, a science of certainty and applied research intended to cure and cure. Patients visit their doctors in hopes of being diagnosed, prescribed and treated. For many patients, this optimistic outlook is in fact the order of things. But for many others, medicine is an experimental endeavor and very human in nature. Atul Gawande, in his collection of essays titled Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, highlights this view of medicine as a field of possibilities and dead ends, of improvements and failures. Despite the many changes that medicine has brought, perhaps the most telling is the evolution of the patient-doctor relationship to one that redefines the patient's role in health care. Medical advances have been welcomed by a new generation of patients, more educated, better informed about their health, and playing an increasingly active role in decision-making about their care. We no longer view medicine as a one-way street, in which the doctor makes all relevant decisions regarding the patient's health. The effectiveness of medical care depends as much on the physician's ability to make reasonable and sound judgments as it does on the patient's illness and his or her right to demand the best possible care. By humanizing the doctor and revealing his or her fallibilities, Gawande implicitly acknowledges the need for patients to become more involved in matters related to their medical care. It is ironic that advances in medical technology in the 21st century have coincided with greater awareness. for patient-centered care, a development that could be attributed to the shattering of the illusion of perfect and correct medicine...... middle of paper ...... yes, doctors cannot never really know with confidence whether a treatment will be beneficial in the long term or whether the prescribed medication will produce the desired result. Nonetheless, by erasing our misconceptions that medicine is a flawless science, Gawande humanizes health care and allows us to reevaluate our understanding of the roles of patients and doctors. Advances in medicine have influenced a type of patient-centered care that is complemented by increased patient responsibility as well as physician respect for medical autonomy. Works Cited Berger, JT “Redefining the Domains of Decision Making by Physician and Patient.” » International Journal of Clinical Practice. 65.8 (2011): 828-30. Print. www.medscape.com/viewarticle/746804>. Gawande, Atul. Complications: A surgeon's notes on imperfect science. New York: Picador, 2002. Print.