551-12

Lesson 12 Assignment

This is a complicated case. However, if I were the judge in both cases, I will direct that the rights of the patient should be respected when they are competent to make informed decisions given the circumstances surrounding the case. In this case, it is said that A.C. was competent to make medical decisions regarding the pregnancy and the best course of action. Thus, as a judge, my decision is that the doctors need to follow the directions of a patient. Patients have rights which should be respected by the medics.

From my point of view, this is not a case the courts and the legal system should be involved in. This is because doctors know their rights and they also know the rights of the patients. Faced with a medical dilemma where they need to make a decision, doctors know to whose interests they should work. They also know that they are mandated to respect the rights of their patients provided they are competent to make their own decisions. Thus, if the doctors follow the structure governing their profession strictly, this is not a case to be determined by the courts and the legal system.

The hospital and the trial court hard the shortest time limit to present and determine the case. The patient’s condition worsened at about 7:00 pm or 8:00 pm and trial court convened the following day to hear the case. The case took three hours and immediately doctors assembled to do the operation. So, the time limit was approximately less than 24 hours.