Medical volunteerism is someone who does a task in the medical field voluntarily without pay, particularly in an underdeveloped country that is lacking medical professionals. This topic relates to a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathmatics) class this semester because we had a discussion over the ethics of medical volunteerism. Ethical questions do arise from this topic. There are many discussion questions of who benefits from medical volunteering, what procedures volunteers are allowed to do, and so on and so forth. One interesting aspect is the idea of consent. Medical volunteering has ethical issues concerning consent. Although medical volunteerism may be beneficial, but there are ethical issues regarding consent that are overlooked …show more content…
Overall in this world there's an increase in global poverty, war and conflict, natural disasters, and other serious challenges, which make a shortage of health professionals the least of their concerns (Withers). In these crisis situations those in need somehow feel responsible to accept whatever help is offered, but the real responsibilities lie within the helper, which makes consent a big issue (Sommer). These people are vulnerable and are at risk of exploitation by medical volunteers (?). They experience trauma from the world around them and harmful “helping” could add to it (Sommer). In these particular crisis situations it usually involves time constraint, overwhelming number of people, and high levels of emotions. Medical volunteers often times are short term medical volunteers, so they are there for a short period of time (?). In this short period of time snap judgements are made. As ? states, “quantity over quality.” This means that the number of people helped is more priority than it is how well the person is helped, which make treatment and diagnostic can be different than how things usually are. When in these situations theirs high emotions from stress, displacement, lack of basic necessities, and even sleep deprivation which blur important judgement (Sommer). This has a negative effect …show more content…
For instance when these medical volunteers travel and volunteer often times than not it is in a place they have never been before, so first language is an issue. Then adding cultural differences can hinder communications and difficulty understanding between the volunteer and the patient with expectations, values, and decision making (?). Health systems also vary in many places. These problems challenge volunteers when they are in these fast paced situation as stated in the paragraph before, which could have a negative effect on consent because communication and understanding are vital to these relationships being helper and patient (?). It could leave the patient unaware of the procedures and treatments being done to them as well as the risks that go with it, which can cause tensions that would negatively impact the volunteering and the patient. Ultimately everything must be considered in these situations of medical