Patient care and paternalism: dilemmas of family practice

Abstract

From the clinical records of a country doctor, this vignette concerns a teenaged girl who, having refused treatment, is persuaded, under near duress, to accept a regimen that her family physician considers best for her. Although apparently arrogant paternalism, the practitioner's approach proves, on reflection, to possess considerable merit. The author discusses the ethical principles that have led to rejection of paternalism in the West. Formulated as absolute maxims, they soon require, like all absolutes, a multitude of explanations and additions. Some logical, social, and other "exceptions" are briefly mentioned, because the old doctor's intuitive actions seem to have oddly coincided with a number of them. Yet the questions remain: Should this medical practitioner have become so deeply involved? Should he have interfered with his patient's autonomy to the extent he did? Was he justified?