Lecture by Julie M. Autlman at AUBMC

The Ethics Matters Initiative of Salim El-Hoss Bioethics and Professionalism Program is hosting a lecture entitled “Difficult Patient Encounters: Improving Care Through a Wide Reflective Equilibrium,” by Julie M. Autlman at AUBMC SB 101.

In this session, Dr. Aultman identifies reasons why certain local and global patient populations have been deemed “difficult” and how this label prior to, during, or following the clinical encounter can diminish patient care, compromise the integrity of the medical profession, perpetuate bias and discrimination, and negatively affect public health initiatives.

In discussing the role of initial moral judgments and how they can be shaped through coherence among ethics, clinical facts, and social values and beliefs in patient care, she presents some methods and recommendations for circumventing our labeling practices despite some of their benefits (e.g., triaging) through a justice framework (John Rawls, Norman Daniels, Kai Nielson).