Physicians Have A Duty To Act In The Good Habits

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Physicians have a duty to act in the patient’s best interest, sometime going against an autonomous patient’s or surrogate’s wishes regarding medical decisions. From the facts presented in the case study, it is inferred that doctors believe that the surgery will be unsuccessful unless the patient changes his habits. Therefore, it will be futile and an unnecessary waste of labour and resources to perform a surgery whose positive effects will be mitigated by continuous bad habits and will undoubtedly fail. Physicians can refuse patient treatment on the basis of futility and this case can be constructed as such.
The patient has a dependent, disabled wife. However, from his classification as an alcoholic, how effective is he as a caretaker? His bad habits do not indicate a healthy way of life for himself and his dependent spouse. One of the reasons a why alcoholism and smoking are considered deviant behaviour is because we are all knowledgeable of their negative physical, emotional, and mental affects (e.g. depression, premature ageing, lung cancer, etc.). Many people classify alcoholism as a disease in its own right—one that perpetuations bad, often violent, behaviour. Even if the surgery is successful, his bad habits propagate direr, future medical issues that influence his longevity and status as a provider (e.g. if he experiences lung cancer because of his smoking and has to undergo treatment, he will be unable to take care of himself or his spouse).
The health-care system also

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