Complexity of Partners in Healthcare

Russell Ohan has a disability. As the result of temporal lobe damage, he has epilepsy and a type of obsessive behavior known as perseveration. Some consequences of Russell’s perseveration are that he is literal, concrete and suspicious. Russell received two messages from his health care providers. Neurologists told him his epilepsy is evidence of unusual electrical activity in his brain and that, while we know a lot about seizure disorders, there is also much that we don’t know. He was told that his assistance was crucial to controlling his seizure disorder and that he should look for patterns that might explain when or why his seizures occur.

• How ought it be explained to a person who thinks concretely and who constantly tests the congruity of what others say and do?
• Should care include an explanation of how his disability establishes his relationship to the world and that his disability is actually complex and self-serving?
• If we do not disclose to Russell our beneficial stake in the paradigm we have offered to him, how can we be faithful with him if he takes us at our word?

Apply Theory (Specific Professional Healthcare Competencies + Clinical Medical Ethical Principles) to Practice in order to provide Optimal Patient-Centered Care (OPCC)