Abstract
From 1974 to 1976 first year medical students were asked the following question: Should parents, parents and physicians, or parents' physicians, and the courts have the right to decide if the parents' profoundly retarded child with severe hydrocephalus and meningomyelocele, who has never talked, requires tube feeding, and is cared for in a nursing home, live or die as a result of their decision that treatment be given or withheld when an infection occurs? They were requested to answer yes, no or uncertain. After they made their initial decision, faculty members from Boston College Law School and physicians from the Genetic Service of the New England Medical Center Hospital discussed the pros and cons of the question. Following a discussion period the students revoted on the issue.
In 1974, 21 percent, and in 1975 and 1976, 23 percent of the students changed their original opinions. In all three years the most consistent change was from allowing parents to make the decision alone to sharing the decision making process with either the physician or the courts.
These findings are of interest because it emphasizes the uncertainty students have regarding such an ethical question. It also shows that a student's opinion is subject to change within an hour's lecture after receiving more information. Medical school faculty should always be aware of the significant role they play in formulating their students' opinions and should make a determined effort to present all sides of such an issue.
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Feingold, M. 489 MEDICAL STUDENTS AND THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS. Pediatr Res 12 (Suppl 4), 445 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00494
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00494
