Discussion of six thinking caps Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Discussion of six thinking caps - Essay Example The prognosis of Marianne could be derived from brain specialists and neuro-surgeons, close relatives and surrogates who are attending to her needs in the hospital or health care center wherein she is presently receiving treatment. There are only two options left in the case of Marianne: Firstly, either to undergo surgery and face its consequences, beneficial or favorable, or Secondly, allow things to remain status quo, i.e. doing nothing much to save her life, except perhaps, putting her on life support systems that could offer residual life support. However, there are inherent risks with regard to the second option. In this case, she might suddenly go into a comatose state and slip into unconsciousness, never to return to normalcy. Surgery could be a good option as it would prevent health concerns at a later stage but her advancing age and poor health are major barriers against surgery at this stage. Besides, the surgeons are quite apprehensive about the fact that even if a successive surgery is done on the patient to diffuse and resolve the clot, she may not be able to lead a normal life later. â€Å"However, with constructive advancement in medical technology it is possible for her â€Å"to benefit from the improvements in time and accuracy offered by the new imaging approach.† (Advances in medical imaging: Improving epilepsy surgery, 2010, para.4). Marianne would still require life support systems which are being presently used. This is perhaps the reason why her family members and close relatives are averse to the proposed surgery since there aren’t any major benefits in terms of amelioration of the patient’s health. In a major surgery consideration as in the case of Marianne, the informed consent of the patient is very much necessary. â€Å"To encourage voluntariness, the physician can make clear to the patient that he is