Researchers at VU University Medical Center Report New Data on Bioethics

2019 MAY 07 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Biotech News Daily -- New research on Biotechnology - Bioethics is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Amsterdam, Netherlands, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Working as clinical ethicists in an academic hospital, we find that practitioners tend to take a principle-based approach to moral dilemmas when it comes to (not) treating patients who feel like a burden, in which respect for autonomy tends to trump other principles. We argue that this approach insufficiently deals with the moral doubts of professionals with regard to feeling that you are a burden as a motive to decline or withdraw from treatment.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from VU University Medical Center, “Neither does it take into adequately account the specific needs of the patient that might underlie their feeling of being a burden to others. We propose a care ethics approach as an alternative. It focuses on being attentive and responsive to the caring needs of those involved in the care process-which can be much more specific than either receiving or withdrawing from treatment. This approach considers these needs in the context of the patient’s identity, biography and relationships, and regards autonomy as relational rather than as individual. We illustrate the difference between these two approaches by means of the case of Mrs K.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Furthermore, we show that a care ethics approach is in line with interventions that are found to alleviate feeling a burden and maintain that facilitating moral case deliberation among practitioners can supports them in taking a care ethics approach to moral dilemmas in (not) treating patients who feel like a burden.”

For more information on this research see: Moral dilemmas in (not) treating patients who feel they are a burden. Bioethics, 2019;():. Bioethics can be contacted at: Blackwell Publishing Inc, 350 Main St, Malden, MA 02148, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Bioethics - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-8519)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting S. Metselaar, Dept. of Medical Humanities, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12579. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal Bioethics is: Blackwell Publishing Inc, 350 Main St, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)