Macahilos, Patricia Mae

BSN-2

Reaction Paper: Case Study

The choice I believe is best for CB is radiation therapy (XRT). The reason I choose this is
that the tumor can shrink and can make the patient live longer. Although this treatment does
not ensure that the patient will survive indefinitely due to such problems (such as the vices of
the patient), it will also serve to extend the life of the patient and make him aware that
everything is being provided by the health care providers to help his illness. Debunking surgery
is not the preferred treatment since the origin of the tumor was crucial and the disease is
already at stage 4, which is quite difficult. Surgery often takes a lot of time (12 hours) to
conduct that this would entail only devoting a whole day to one operation room to one case,
and that such precious OR time may otherwise be divided between many other patients in need
who would be more likely to do better post-operatively than CB. Another choice that is not
treatment but palliative care is also not recommended because it will only prolong the anxiety
of the patient about his condition and with this, he would only have long-term palliative care
and he would feel like there was no treatment for his condition at all.

Autonomy is often viewed as the overriding principle in bioethics, which is to say that it
is viewed as the equivalent of saying that if one is medically competent one has the right to
decide freely for oneself. In the case of the patient, there are valid exceptions to this matter
since there are some occasions that a patient can more particularly not know for himself
whether he is not psychologically or emotionally unstable. There were also valid exceptions in
the health care provider's part that a health care provider can consult with other stakeholders
in order to formulate the best plan for the patient.