“I’m finally allowed to be me”: parent-child estrangement and psychological wellbeing

It finally happened to me.

It finally happened to me: I was sued for malpractice by the family of a patient who had died suddenly. My inner turmoil in the aftermath of this traumatic event affected me deeply. While I was an experienced family doctor dedicated to patient-centered medicine, the event challenged my customary approach to my patients. I share three vignettes from my practice that describe my inner dialogue bo...

What should the child with epilepsy be allowed to do?

The right to be allowed to die.

Commenting on the California case of Elizabeth Bouvia, a quadreplegic who requested hospital assistance to alleviate suffering while she starved herself to death, Brahams expresses the hope that no patient in the United Kingdom will ever be forcibly fed against his or her wishes. Since passage of Britain's Suicide Act of 1961, taking one's own life is not a crime, although aiding a suicide is ...

Parent-child relationships and offspring's positive mental wellbeing from adolescence to early older age.

We examined parent-child relationship quality and positive mental well-being using Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development data. Well-being was measured at ages 13-15 (teacher-rated happiness), 36 (life satisfaction), 43 (satisfaction with home and family life) and 60-64 years (Diener Satisfaction With Life scale and Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being scale). The Par...

Should the patient be allowed to die?

In considering the patient's right to a certain quality of dying, this essay outlines how the legal and ethical justifications for passive euthanasia depend on the doctrine of acts and omissions. It is suggested that this doctrine is untenable and that alternative justifications are needed. The development of the modern mechanistic approach to death is traced, showing that a possible basis for ...