Stroke: A General Assessment

Stroke is a brain disorder caused by inadequate supply of oxygen to the brain structure and associated tissues as a result of insufficient blood flow to the brain from either internal bleeding in the brain or the destruction of a blood vessel. The condition kills the brain cells for they are unable to respire and a continuous elimination of brain cells causes relapse in the memory, lost control in the brain muscles and eventually killing the patient. Patients suffering from a stroke might lose functionality on one side of their body, either left or right and also might lose their ability to deliver a speech or at times give a distorted speech. Also, the patient might lose coordination, have blurred vision, partial blindness, dizziness and confusion (Holland, 2018).

Legal perspective for stroke assures that the medical staffs’ competence in dealing with stroke patients. Competence in the perception that the admitted patient or a stroke patient can understand the type of treatment made available for them. The patient should have an understanding of the offered treatment for them, either accept or deny the treatment and finally, the patient should be in a position to communicate the final decision (Fisher & Schneider, 2014). A legal perspective against treatment or care for stroke patients is the Physician-Patient Relationship. A stroke patient who might not fully exercise the Physician-Patient Relationship with the doctor or physician may lack proper treatment. The Physician-Patient Relationship (PPR) is a fundamental requirement needed while treating patients for medical physicians are not liable to treating ‘strangers’ (Fisher & Schneider, 2014). In the legal perspective, there is an advantage when it comes to treating stroke patients. Participation in the treatment process has to involve stroke patients as well as close family members in case the patient is not entirely legible to think through the treatment decision. The purpose and objective of including the family members is to illustrate the medical procedure and familiarize them with the risks that are likely to be experienced during treatment. Also, during the process, they are also informed about the benefits of administering a particular medication for the stroke patient.

On the contrary, during the treatment process, the physician can also participate in providing the treatment in instances where both the patient and the family members cannot fully come up with explicit consent. The physician should be in a position to explain and provide adequate information which both the patient and the family members could use to arrive at a final decision. Relevant information that the physician should always provide includes the diagnosis, suggested treatment and alternative treatment. (Fisher & Schneider, 2014)One drawback of involving the physicians is the lack of belief or even trust that they were willing to fully cooperate while treating the stroke patient (Blixen, 2005).

There is a drawback in the administration of the stroke patients in the emergency rooms. For instance, directly subjecting the stroke patients to the emergency department would probably alter or interfere with their cultural perspective of receiving treatment or even surgery. Not only is the emergency department procedure a violation of the cultural norms, but also, it could even interfere with their ethnicity or even racial misconduct (Blixen, 2005).

There are community-based services, and programs that the stroke survivors can participate or the community at large would partake to prevent the occurrence of stroke to the public. In Flint Michigan, for instance, there is a tendency of underutilization of stroke treatment amongst the populace that comprises of around a hundred thousand residents. In 2009, Flint formed The Peoples Health Partnership which consists of neurologists, nurses, health behavior analysts and specialists, health educationalists and a faith-oriented organization known as Bridges to the Future. The Peoples Health Partnership main objective is to reduce and control the cases of cardiovascular diseases and stroke within the population as Flint became a hotbed for such illnesses. Also, they formed an initiative called Stroke Ready which foresees sufficient preparation of the early symptoms of stroke and an emergency number through which they can contact the clergy of the churches. Also, they developed an Emergency Department that could facilitate acute stroke attacks to the residents of Flint.  An overall advantage of the partnership is to offer acute treatment of stroke in an attempt to minimize stroke-related disabilities.  Such a partnership could be vital in areas where there are insufficient medical attendance and limited resources that could be important in controlling stroke (Skolarus, 2017).

Stroke rehabilitation centers are other ventures in which stroke survivors could enroll. The purpose of the stroke rehabilitation centers is to relearning the lost skills which vanished as the stroke damaged some parts of the brain. In the stroke rehabilitation centers, the survivors relearn motor skills such that are important in swallowing of food and mobility skills that include walking. The patients and survivors also participate in cognitive therapy which is essential for memory learning, safety consciousness, offering solutions to problems, creativity, and improvement of judgment skills. They receive psychological treatment that is important in the emotional well-being of the survivors and patients. Finally, the rehabilitation centers have medication therapy which the patients consume to improve their alertness. Medication also includes physiotherapy services such as massages (Staff, n.d.).

There could be new areas for handling stroke and raising the awareness of the mental disorder.  For starters, the state could formulate new policies that ensure the medical professional receive adequate professional training and offering of amenities that would facilitate learning about stroke. The policy could stretch to the available schools and universities which offer medicine in their majors and developing a specific unit of learning and researching about stroke.

Another initiative would be the participation of the federal courts to intervene with cases of misdiagnosis. Most of the medical physicians are under the protection of the law and might easily walk away from the courts. For instance, improper diagnosis and refusal to administer certain drugs such as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) to a stroke patient who might have a family history of stroke attack should be an element of legal consideration and also persecution.

Formation of acts such as a Strokes Act would be beneficial in raising public awareness in matters regarding stroke. Such laws encourage the public to become aware of the existence of stroke in the community and the mitigation procedures required to deal with stroke. The act could also facilitate a proper health system for the stroke survivors and the essential care they need for their lives. Finally, the bill could also be a stepping stone for the development of other support organization which would join forces in providing the essential needs to curb stroke.

For future references, there should be more research on more straightforward procedures that the public could easily use to assist the stroke patients and survivors. More medical research would be vital for coming up with a new medicine that an acute stroke attack could fade easily without causing future complications. The learning institutions should advocate health sciences as mandatory courses for graduation for understanding more about health, and associated diseases would help the public become aware of the illnesses and the actions to prevent them. In neurology, studying more about brain plasticity would be helpful in the rehabilitation process of stroke survivors. Brain plasticity would be a focal point when it comes to the relearning process of stroke survivors.

References

Blixen, C. E. (2005). Stroke patients’ preferences and values about emergency research. Journal of Medical Ethics, 608-611.

Fisher, M., & Schneider, P. (2014, August 28). Stroke and the Law. Retrieved from Stroke: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/STROKEAHA.114.002864

Holland, K. (2018, April 10). Everything You Need to Know About Stroke. Retrieved from Healthline: https://www.healthline.com/health/stroke

Skolarus, L. (2017). A Community Based Participatory Trial to Increase Stroke Treatment. Retrieved from Centre for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine: http://cbssm.med.umich.edu/what-we-do/research-projects/community-based-participatory-trial-increase-stroke-treatment-2016-2021

Staff, M. C. (n.d.). Stroke rehabilitation: What to expect as you recover. Retrieved from Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/stroke/in-depth/stroke-rehabilitation/art-20045172

 
Do you need high quality Custom Essay Writing Services?

Custom Essay writing Service