Alma Beatrice T.

Paredes

BSRT 2-3

How does conscience affect a medical student like us?

Conscience as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary is the sense or
consciousness of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of ones own conduct, intentions, or
character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good. In a site Ive read, it stated
there that The idea that physicians should never act against conscience follows from a long
Western tradition, expressed in the maxim, Let your conscience be your guide. This tradition is
rooted in part in Catholic moral theology, which says that an individual must always obey the
certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn
himself.
I remembered a scene in a medical drama series Im watching called Greys Anatomy.
During the first season, there is an intern med student whom was chosen to join in the operating
room with the attending doctors or surgeons. As an intern, it will serve as a practice or training
for them to do a surgery. To be specific, it was an appendectomy. This intern student is the one
performing the surgery while the attending doctor is just guiding and giving instructions. It was a
so far so good performance but when he was about to finish, he accidentally ruptured
something that made the patients stool to spread inside the body. This later on causes some
complications. The patient died knowing that there were just some complications but not the
whole truth as it remained to people inside the four corners of the operating room. There is also a
scene wherein a bike racer met an accident and was brought to the hospital. A female med intern
insisted to have him diagnosed properly but the racer is against it and wanted him just to be
stitched up and to let him finish the race. Another med intern who is a guy arrived and agreed
with the racer as if he could understand him. He stitched him up and the biker finished the race.
A few days after, he returned having a severe wound that almost cost him his life. The female
intern saw him suffering and immediately went to the guy to assist him and treat him while the
guy intern is maintaining his airy attitude.
So how does conscience affect a medical student like us? If trust is a big word, then so is
conscience. Conscience is said to be the whispering voice of God. I would agree in Western

tradition that says, Let conscience be your guide. It is hard to make decisions when someones
health or life is at stake for the very reason that we were only given one lifetime. In every
decision made, we must think of what is right to do and avoid doing what is wrong. Being a
medical student, we must always be guided by our conscience to avoid mistakes. We must study
the hard way in able to instill the knowledge in ourselves properly. We must not cheat our way
out in our studies so that we can give better and appropriate services to our future patients. We
must learn to weigh out possible consequences from our actions. This way, we can really save
lives instead of adding further injury or complications.

References:
Lawrence, R. E., & Curlin, F. A. (2009). Physicians Beliefs About Conscience in Medicine: A
National Survey. Retrieved November 06, 2016, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2859045/