The Overlooked Dimension

The Overlooked Dimension

Medical decision-making frameworks have traditionally focused on rational, evidence-based approaches while neglecting the significant influence of spirituality, concepts of fate, and free will. This paper examines how spiritual beliefs and the notion of free will impact healthcare decisions and proposes an integrated model that acknowledges scientific, spiritual, and volitional dimensions.

This study employs a hermeneutic analysis of contemporary literature on medical decision-making, alongside evidence from studies on spirituality in healthcare and philosophical work on free will. Drawing on Masic's framework of medical decision-making, Zürcher et al.'s compatibilist approach to free will, and empirical studies of spirituality's impact on healthcare choices, the paper develops an expanded model that incorporates spiritual and volitional dimensions.