OVERVIEW

This online course discusses respect and equal treatment; ending a patient-HP relationship; HIV/Aids; sexual attraction; treating family members; communication and consent with a case study included; obstacles for good communication plus case study; abusing medical resources including case study; futile treatment.

The health care profession-patient relationship is the cornerstone of medical practice and therefore of medical ethics. The Declaration of Geneva requires of the health care profession that “The health of my patient will be my first consideration,” and the International Code of Medical Ethics states, “A health care profession shall owe his patients complete loyalty and all the resources of his science.” The traditional interpretation of the health care professional-patient relationship as a paternalistic one, in which the health care professional made the decision and the patient submitted to them, has been widely rejected in recent years, both in ethics and in law.

Since many patients are either unable or unwilling to make decisions about their medical care, however, patient autonomy is often very problematic. This on-line course will deal with two topics that pose particularly vexing problems to Health Care Professionals in their daily practice: respect and equal treatment, communication and consent.