Competent patients who refuse life saving medical treatment present a dilemma for healthcare professionals. On one hand, respect for autonomy and liberty demand that physicians respect a patient's decision to refuse treatment. However, it is often apparent that such patients are not fully competent. They may not adequately comprehend the benefits of medical care, be overly anxious about pain, o...

Education is in a state of rapid change. The influx of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) lead us to question: “How do we find the balance between continuity and discontinuity whilst critically renewing our educational traditions?” The paper develops a philosophical understanding that transcends utopian and dystopian claims that IT is either “becoming education” or “destroyin...

All illness represents a state ofdiminished autonomy and therefore the doctor-patient relationship necessarily and justifiably involves a degree ofmedical paternalism argues the author, an American medical student. In a broadranging paper he discusses the concepts ofautonomy and paternalism in the context of the doctor-patient relationship. Given the necessary diminution ofautonomy which illnes...

Background: World Health Organization (WHO) defines three goals to assess the performance of a health system: the state of health, fairness in financial contribution and responsiveness. We assessed the responsiveness of health system for patients with diabetes in a defined population cohort in Tehran, Iran. Methods: Total responsiveness and eight domains (prompt attention, dignity, communica...