Announcer:
0:00
Welcome to the MedEvidence Monday Minute Radio Show hosted by Kevin Geddings of WSOS St. Augustine Radio and powered ENCORE Research Research Group. Each Monday morning, Dr. Michael Koren calls in to bring you the latest medical updates with insightful discussions. MedEvidence is where we help you navigate the real truth behind medical research, with both a clinical and research perspective. So sit back, relax and get ready to learn about the truth behind the data in medicine and healthcare. This is MedEvidence.
Kevin Geddings :
0:31
Dr. Michael Koren joining us live, as he does on Monday mornings, of course. He's our resident medical doctor, cardiologist and research scientist and he also heads up the show there at EN Docs, where you can participate in leading-edge clinical research. You can be a participant and be at the forefront of medical science. Today we wanted to talk a little bit about autonomy. That's a big word for us early on a Monday morning, doctor.
Dr. Michael Koren:
0:55
It is. It is, but it's actually the cornerstone of ethics for medical researchers such as myself, or medical researchers such as myself and interestingly, as we go into the political season, it was also the key word for our founding fathers who believed that all human beings had autonomy and could make their own decisions.
Dr. Michael Koren:
1:17
And that's really what it comes down to is the ability for people to choose their own course, to make their own decisions. And when you think about that and you structure your institutions based on that concept, good things happen. So in research, it's important that we always tell patients that everything they do is voluntary, that when they get involved in a program they are committing to a protocol way of doing things, but at the end of the day they are volunteers and can refuse to do any part of the protocol for any reason. So it's an interesting dynamic of having to stick with a protocol for scientific purposes, but always respecting the autonomy of the patients who are involved.
Kevin Geddings :
1:59
Which should give people added comfort, right in terms of participating in clinical trials, to know that you know at any point they could exit. Or you know, refuse to do something if you will and all is okay.
Dr. Michael Koren:
2:17
Yeah, that's a really, really important point and it's actually a point that we don't discuss enough in general medicine and in politics to some degree. So what I find very interesting is a lot of people who are feeling that the COVID vaccine is something that's a government conspiracy or something that they shouldn't take any part in don't really have a problem with the vaccine per se, but they actually have a problem with the mandate. So during the teeth of COVID, when asked this question, he used to say the COVID vaccine is good, the COVID mandate is bad because it takes away your autonomy and, as you and I have talked about on many occasions, all these decisions are very personal. The government does not know your individual circumstances, so without that knowledge, it's very difficult for them to put forth a mandate and still respect this concept of autonomy.
Kevin Geddings :
3:21
Yeah, I guess that extends to you know, sometimes we see it well, you need to stay here for three nights or we need to do these additional tests. I guess, as a patient, we have a right to say no.
Dr. Michael Koren:
3:32
You do, you do. But this gets into another very, very interesting thing. You have the right to say no, but you don't have the right to commit suicide. So sometimes physicians have this difficult situation where they have to evaluate the competence of patients and, on rare occasion, force people to stay in the hospital or do things, because not doing them would be a form of suicide. So some really interesting parts of medical ethics.
Kevin Geddings :
4:01
Yeah, very, very interesting stuff. Dr. Kore n, I know you got to go, but give us a couple of examples of the types of research folks could participate in. You know they could be recruited for right now.
Dr. Michael Koren:
4:13
Right. So we talked a little bit about planning for the flu season and I think the best concept there was articulated by the great American philosopher Theodor Geisel. I don't know if you're familiar with that name, but he said you have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes. You can steer them in any direction you choose. And basically that's what you're looking at when you plan for the cold and flu season. So, again, you have autonomy, you have brains in your head, you can get your vaccines to protect yourself and you can be prepared so that, if you do get sick, you have a resource to figure out what in fact is the virus that's causing the problem and then treat it appropriately. And if you haven't figured it out yet, uh, Theodore Geisel is Dr. seuss, one of our most famous doctors.
Kevin Geddings :
5:03
He wasn't actually a doctor right, right, but played one in the books anyway, yeah green eggs and ham that's a classic, don't you think? No doubt, absolutely. And before we let you go, dr corn, speaking of good information, talk to us about MedEvidence. com.
Dr. Michael Koren:
5:21
That's our platform for the truth behind the data, and we get into podcasts typically two physicians speaking with one another about a medical issue. And, again, the concept here is that there's some things that we know for sure. There are truths that are absolute. There are things that we absolutely don't know. and then there's a process to learn about the stuff that we don't know, and, fundamentally, clinical research is that process of figuring out stuff we don't know.
Kevin Geddings :
5:45
Yeah Well, you can learn more once again by going to MedEvidence. com. It's a great resource, so much more trustworthy than what you're going to find on Facebook, obviously, or the Google machine. Go to MedEvidence. com, the truth behind the data. Dr. Michael Koren, thank you for all your time this morning. We appreciate you and drive safe out there, okay.
Dr. Michael Koren:
6:04
All right, have a great week, Kevin.
Announcer:
6:06
Thanks for joining the MedEvidence podcast. To learn more, head over to medevidence. com or subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
