Healing or Being Autonomous Essay

Making an ethical and moral decision is no doubt a challenging task especially for those people that are strongly attached to the aspect of religion. In the case study healing or being autonomous, the biblical narrative and vision are well articulated by James's parents Mike and Joanne who are certainly caught in a dilemma making the right ethical decision. Both parents are torn between two on the health issue of their son. Having a strong Christian background, Mike and Joanne are called to make a decision concerning their eight-year-old son. Judging by the fact that the two parents practice religious autonomy, they clearly fail to decide on whose hands they should leave the health condition of their son on. This paper proposes to discuss matters of urgencies in regards to James's health condition from a Christian perspective in the case study healing or being autonomous.

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In essence, the case study contains many pressing matters that are associated to the Christian narrative and, therefore, it is important to realize that there are different versions of the Christian faith that are fond of interpreting Christianity differently. For instance, Catholic, Protestant, and Baptist have all different variations to each other (Mulholland, 2016). While there are other denominations that would strongly emphasize that the main purpose of the doctors and medicine is to provide healing with the guidance of God, there are those that see God as the immediate healer. In this light, it is okay to receive health care for a serious sickness to avoid further complication that may lead to death (Rigaud, 2013). In contrast to this teaching, some faith such as the Jehovah witness preaches against best practices such as blood transfusion even if a patient is in critical condition. This is the main reason why one cannot just put a blank narrative on the Christian beliefs.

Nevertheless, various Christian beliefs are put to test on this particular matter. While James's mother is a true Christian believer who thinks that her son should wait a little longer while she decides on the path to take, his father, on the other hand, is torn between the aspect of healing and being autonomous (Rigaud, 2013). Moral and ethical virtues that are associated with determining treatment based on beliefs set an innocent child in danger. Another debated matter brought to play is the issue of the kidney transplant between the two siblings. Given that the child is not old enough to have a say on whether he should donate a kidney to his brother raises a lot of ethical concerns. Considering the fact that James's health condition is fast deteriorating, his parent ought to take a swift decision regardless of whether they are Christians or not. However, in this scenario, Christian belief takes the center stage and acts as the main barrier between the provisions of medication to the poor young man.

Religion has been known to play a critical role in many individual's lives as well as specific situations. In this light, there has been an open conflict between Christian denominations and medicine. Apparently, there are many issues that are related to the religious belief that can hinder medical requirement to a particular patient. In relation to this case study, there has been an outstanding issue that involves parent's refusal in allowing their children to get the necessary medical attention (Mulholland, 2016). Mike is seen to deny his son James getting access to treatment and instead opt to seek spiritual healing. Despite the respect that parents are entitled to especially in making decisions concerning their children, doctors are supposed to report such cases as medical neglect (Rigaud, 2013). In such scenario, the state is expected to intercede and make sure that the child receives medical treatment. This, therefore, shows that physicians are encouraged to report such cases and necessary steps taken.

Spirituality is mainly regarded as the basis of what constitutes human existence and often relates to an individual's capacity for self-existence in the contemporary society. Essentially, this aspect is tipped to provide the overall fulfillment and meaning of life. Subsequently, in case Christian spirituality is considered to consist of everyday human experience, then it is no doubt that spirituality will also involve science and medicine. Primarily, this mostly applies in a situation where bioethics is a required to manipulate different biological processes. Notably, this has been a great challenge, especially to Christians regarding the overview of the meaning and value. Patient autonomy often encompasses rather informed choices of competent personnel and in this case study, Mike takes the center stage on behalf of James. This issue raises consent to certain decisions that are taken by the patient, therefore, bringing more focus of medicine on the patient instead of the pathology. Physicians are then encouraged not to go against the principle of autonomy. In the case study, there are various instances where autonomy dictates that the doctor should have informed the patient the risks he was to face in case of refusal, particularly of medication (Specht, Bluhm, & Schroder, 2017). However, the doctor takes a step of respecting the patient's decision of choosing spiritual healing yet they were aware of the risks that were involved. Noteworthy, there is an availability of a valuable choice in a Christian narrative involving patient autonomy, refusal of a medical treatment, and necessary organ donation.

Primarily, there has been viability on the Christian view concerning sickness and health particularly to the way doctors and physicians see it. From the case study, it is evident that Mike's family is strongly attached to Christianity. It is; therefore, fair to say that they viewed the aspect of sickness from a Christian standpoint (Mulholland, 2016). Additionally, it would be safe to say that every Christian faith has a different view on the issues surrounding sickness and health matter keeping in mind that Christianity has various denominations. While there are those Christians that see sickness as a temptation or punishment from God, Mike and his family view sickness as a test of faith, particularly in God. Nonetheless, there are those Christians who trust that Doctors are bound to eliminate sickness through God's guidance.

As a strong Christian, Mike is supposed to hold on to his faith but at the same time give the doctors a chance of reinstating his son's health to normalcy. While holding on to his faith, Mike is required to pray for his son that whatever the doctors are going to do will ensure that his son recovers as soon as possible (Specht, Bluhm, & Schroder, 2017). Apparently, this is because even though Mike is a Christian, the Bible articulates that God helps those who help themselves. Therefore, for mike to deny James treatment he puts him at great risk of dying. Trusting God while allowing James to receive treatment remains the best way for him to reason out.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is evident that the matter surrounding religion and medicine can sometimes bring a lot of controversies in the contemporary world. For instance, the case study that is aligned with this work shows a misunderstanding between autonomy and healing a patient. James's parents are caught between deciding whose hands to leave their son's health on. Nonetheless, as a Christian, it is important to have faith in God while still securing an individual's life through treatment.

References

Mulholland, M. (2016). Spirits of Protestantism: Medicine, Healing and Liberal Christianity by Pamela Klassen

Klassen, Pamela, Spirits of Protestantism: Medicine, Healing and Liberal Christianity, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2011, 348 pages. Anthropologica, 58(2), 309-310. doi: 10.3138/anth.582.ebr06

Rigaud, S. (2013). https://www.app.pan.pl/article/item/app20120056.html. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. doi: 10.4202/app.2012.0056

Specht, S., Bluhm, J., & Schroder, J. (2017). Description of the Damage and Healing Behavior of an Extrinsic and Autonomous Self-Healing Anisotropic Material. PAMM, 17(1), 567-568. doi: 10.1002/pamm.201710253