Comments on: Cosmetic Surgery and the Purpose of Medicine

By: Cosmetic Surgery and the Purpose of Medicine

Cosmetic Surgery and the Purpose of Medicine — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:26:16 +0000

[...] not got around to doing all that much about it yet. The subject as I saw it was whether treat …more »Tags: applications, cosmetic, doing, idea, job, like, medicine, question, saw, surgery, [...]

By: Iain Brassington

Iain Brassington — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:49:31 +0000

@Michael - Yep: I’m aware of this battle, and have commented on it before. I think that it’s necessary to be clear about what’s going on here, though.

First up, I ought to make it clear that I have no problem at all with any form of contraception or termination. Moreover, if and when the potential mother’s welfare is at stake, then I think that there is a duty to provide her with the means to end her pregnancy. This has nothing much to do with her request, though - except insofar as its her request that brings the situation to their attention. That is to say, I think that a doctor in this sort of situation ought to perform the procedure requested, but not because it’s been requested.

If, though, the physician can say in good faith that he believes that this is not a matter of maternal welfare, but that it’s simply something he would rather not do for personal reasons, then I think that that decision has to stand. And the same would apply in respect of cosmetic surgery - while I have no real problem that I can readily identify with doctors performing all kinds of off cosmetic procedures if they have the time and the inclination, I don’t think that the mere fact that it’s been requested counts for anything.

Let’s see if I can use a hyperbolic example: suppose a doctor was treating a patient for diabetes, and the patient requested that he be put in a plaster cast. I think the doctor would be perfectly entitled to refuse; and for the patient to scream that their autonomy was being violated really wouldn’t count for much. The examples here are less extreme, but I think that the point probably translates.

By: Michael Cook

Michael Cook — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:02:09 +0000

“she forgets that the medic has no obligation based in autonomy to accede to positive requests - no one in their right mind thinks that the mere fact that a patient is autonomous means that we have to be their performing monkey.”

The first thing that occurs to me is that this is not true. A huge political battle in the US is being fought over conscientious objection — a physician’s right to refuse to do abortions, sterilisations, etc. Quite a few bioethicists argue that doctors should either accede to patients’ requests or leave the profession. The doctors in question rightfully, in my view, complain that they are being asked to be performing monkeys.

This is a fascinating topic, and I’d love to hear more.

By: Keith Tayler

Keith Tayler — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:58:46 +0000

I do not agree with Alice Dreger’s understanding of medical history. It is naïve to think of the “medical profession” as in anyway “noble”. There are good people in it, but that is true of any profession or occupation (even lawyers and estate agents). Equally there are some bad people in it, some very bad (not many professions or occupations are as bad as the medical profession when it goes rotten).
If the great men and women of medicine could come back from the dead and watch television today I think they would conclude that medicine is pretty much what it has always been. In some parts of the world they would find evidence that it has improved, which should give them some comfort.