Pitts conference platform for
cultural differences
by Mary
Helen YarboroughPublic Relations
Nearly 200 medical professionals and ethicists from across the country gathered for the 13th Annual Thomas A. Pitts Memorial Lectureship to discuss the significance that religious and cultural beliefs play in providing health care to a vastly diverse client-base.
Speakers included world-renowned experts on Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Christianity and other leading world religions. Attendees came from as far away as California, New York, Illinois, Maryland, Georgia, North Carolina, across South Carolina and MUSC, the lectureship’s leading sponsor. The University of South Carolina and College of Charleston also helped plan the event that was held at the Francis Marion Hotel due to the anticipated larger attendance.
“It just gets larger and larger each year,” said Sharon Kest, administrator for MUSC’s Institute of Human Values in Health Care. “Our goal was to have 175 registrants, and we had 189 registered.”
Because religious and cultural ethics have become an important component of understanding and working with patients, most major medical schools now include the topic as part of curricula. MUSC’s perfusion and physician assistant students were required to attend the lecture, which was held Sept. 8-9. However, Kest reported that a significant number of MUSC nursing students also attended even though they were not required to.
Dr. Robert M. Sade,
left, chats with world renowned Islamic medical ethicist Dr. Shahid
Athar during the 13th Annual Thomas A. Pitts Memorial Lectureship held
Sept. 8-9 at the Francis Marion Hotel.The medical profession needs to understand the role of religion and culture in treatment that has emerged during the past 15 years, said Robert M. Sade, M.D., Department of Surgery and Pitts series chairman. Prior to recent years, medicine focused so heavily on science that patients objected to a perceived lack of compassion and human perspective from their doctors, Sade said. In response, providers have opened the door to discussing their patients’ spiritual beliefs as a way to connect better with the patient. Those patients, in the ever-diversifying America, represent a rainbow of beliefs, including atheism and agnosticism.
Medical ethicist Shahid Athar, M.D., past president of the Islamic Medical Association of North America and author of seven books and 120 journal articles, said that doctors should accept the beliefs of all patients and treat all patients with equal compassion, regardless of their race, religion or sex.
“You should treat your patient the same as your father or mother,” Athar said. “You should ask them about their beliefs and you should agree to pray with them. …But even if your patient is an atheist, you must treat him with compassion.”
Athar also said that it is important not to confuse religious beliefs with cultural beliefs.
For example, “For a man to assume his authority over a woman is a cultural belief, not a religious belief,” said Athar, referring to the assumption that in Islam a man can overrule his wife’s wishes. “In Islam, a man and woman are equal, and as long as a woman is competent, she has the last say in her treatment.”
Many providers have learned how religious and cultural beliefs could interfere with certain treatment recommendations, for example whether to remove life support, whether to have an abortion, or whether genetic therapy should be used to alter personality.
Laurie Zoloth, Ph.D., R.N., argues that medicine is like free expression and therefore investigating or using treatments such as embryonic stem cells is not breaking any deity-based law. Zoloth, who is Jewish, also challenged beliefs of Catholics who are opposed to some forms of research in the name of the church. She said that under Jewish law, providing the best care for patients with whatever available therapy may not be counter to God's will.
Andrew Lustig, Ph.D., speaking from the Christian and Catholic perspective, acknowledged, however, that the questions of how to treat life, even in embryonic stages, is a constant struggle within the Judeo-Christian circles.
Meanwhile, some in attendance expressed concern about whether or how far a health provider should delve into one’s spiritual beliefs.
“I’m not a spiritual healer. I don’t want to be a spiritual healer,” said Tamantha Psenka, M.D., who works in the pre-op clinic in MUSC’s anesthesia department. “Science is not a religion. I want to be ethical and help my colleagues be ethical. How can we be true to ourselves and the patient? …The easiest thing to prove is what you’re looking for.”
William LaFleur, Ph.D., an expert on Japanese cultures, explained that even if one may not believe in what others believe, it is important to maintain an open mind. In some cultures, whether it’s religious or cultural, certain influences have a uncanny effect on treating illnesses. He said he’s observed that younger medical providers appear to be more open to accepting treatments influenced by other cultures, such as Chinese style medicine that utilizes varying natural therapies.
Athar added, “I am not trying to impose my values on my patients, but I try to look for the signs to help others.”
The proceedings of the lectureship will be published in the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, just as they have been following previous sessions.
Friday, Sept. 15, 2006
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