Personal perspectives: having the time to observe the patient.

ABSTRACT

Being a medically qualified patient can be an unpleasant experience for a person who is used to making decisions. For the most part, this applies to the vast majority of doctors and other healthcare professionals. Becoming passive and surrendering the decision-making process to others is alien to the medical culture we were taught. However, when as a hospitalised medically qualified patient, one sees fellow patients in difficulty, or deteriorating clinically, unnoticed by medical staff, the question of whether it is ethical to intervene arises. I report my views on this as a largely passive, but still actively thinking patient.