ABSTRACT
The right to informed consent (IC), as established in the Supreme Court judgment in Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] UKSC 11, I claim involves a 'journey of love' between clinicians and patients. The latter entails a process of dialogue and support between the parties, concerning disclosure of risks, benefits and alternatives to medical treatment(s). In this paper, I first claim that IC, in the light of the spirit of Montgomery, is predicated upon two pillars, namely patients' autonomy and medical partnership. I will then explore a case study: the case of legal abortion in England and Wales. Regarding this case, the progressive reduction of medical involvement has meant that little opportunity has been provided for this 'journey' to be unpacked in a medical context. I will ultimately claim that more needs to be done to safeguard IC as a 'journey of love' through valuing both patients' autonomy and medical partnership.
Subject(s)
Abortion, Legal , Love , England , Female , Humans , Informed Consent , Pregnancy , WalesABSTRACT
[Objective] We report a case in which we unexpectedly encountered a patient with a transient ischemic attack (TIA) caused by severe stenosis of the left middle cerebral artery (MCA) during the course of acupuncture treatment.Patient: A 79-year-old man suffered from bilateral shoulder pain. He was diagnosed with a frozen shoulder at the orthopedic department and was referred to the acupuncture department.[Results] During the course of acupuncture treatment, the subject occasionally exhibited subtle behavioral features, such as difficulty in speech, holding incoherent conversations, and forgetting where he put things. The symptoms were observed repeatedly during treatment, so the acupuncturist referred the patient to the neurosurgical department for a consultation. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain showed an old cerebral infarction in the watershed area in the left paraventricular region, and MR angiography (MRA) revealed left middle cerebral artery stenosis. Single photon emission computed tomography showed decreased blood flow in the left MCA area. The symptoms could be considered TIA with motor and sensory aphasia. The administration of aspirin was started, and the symptoms disappeared.[Discussion and Conclusion] The acupuncturist has more opportunities to obtain information about the patient due to the longer time spent in acupuncture therapy compared to general outpatient treatment. Acupuncture can play an important role in medical partnership. It is also important that the acupuncturist has sufficient medical knowledge.
ABSTRACT
In order to provide efficient medical care to atrial fibrillation patients in the community, the Huamu Community Health Service Center in association with its medical consortium, Renji Hospital have developed a novel atrial fibrillation management system. With the collaboration of general practitioners and specialist team from the tertiary hospital, a special clinic for atrial fibrillation has been set up in the community health service center, which is based on the internet technology and the medical consortium platform. This article introduces the development of this novel system and the initial outcome of the measures, to provide a reference for the management of atrial fibrillation patients in the community.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: A clear division of the roles of inpatient facilities and outpatient clinics treating patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is needed. To address this, we created a medical partnership between a university hospital and 43 community clinics in Nagasaki, Japan. METHODS: We recruited the clinic physicians and compiled a list of the RA medications used (i.e. methotrexate [MTX], other disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs [DMARDs], and biologics). When a patient's low disease activity or remission was confirmed at the university hospital, the hospital/clinic partnership provided double follow-up/medical care with semiannual meetings between the hospital and clinic physicians. RESULTS: We enrolled 149 patients who maintained clinical remission at 43 clinics over a 54-month period, without rare serious events. Among the nine patients who returned to the university hospital due to relapse, 66.7% had exacerbated RA within 18 months. An average 8.8-9.6 mg/week (max. 14 mg/week) MTX dose was prescribed at the clinics. The biologic usage rate was 22.1%, with a yearly increase. Among the patients treated with biologics, the DAS28ESR at enrollment was 2.65, with 58% treated with an MTX/biologic combination. A significant reduced number of patients with RA per rheumatologist were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Maintenance of DAS remission without major adverse events was attained in the medical partnership.
