Being Judgemental

I’ve encountered several many patients out on clinic that I really wonder about them and the decisions that they make. They make these decisions which put them in these situations, such as hospital, and it seems like they’re getting all the right advice from people; their families; the health professionals; and other patients. But despite all this they seem to continue to get themselves into the same situations again and again, and sometimes it can be frustrating as a health care professional. I guess this is because there are patients that we feel deserve our time and energy much more than the people who seem to be willingly putting themselves in hospital; there are other people who are in hospital because of factors beyond their control. I guess it feels a bit unfair, distributing resources toward those who obviously do not appreciate it.
This is something that I have experienced across many different practicuums, in particular though; cardiopulmonary, burns, and neurosurgery. In my cardiopulmonary prac, people in this category were usually people who had COPD caused by smoking, and were still smoking. They often were people who had been admitted many times over the previous years for excacerbations of their deteriorating and chronic condition, and were well known around the ward by the staff. Each time they are admitted they are a little bit worse, and each time they are given the same good advice: stop smoking. Which they don’t take. As a physio, sometimes it feels like we care more about their condition then they themselves do.
Burns and neurosurgery usually involved patients who had been involved in some kind of drug abuse or violent behavior. One teenager in burns had a history of elicit drug use, had had a fight with his parents, and deliberately set himself on fire during his argument with his parents. Another teenager I met in neurosurgery had climbed on top of his girlfriends car during an argument, she drove off and he fell off the car and cracked his skull on the pavement. There are many other histories of patients that I encountered that involved similar tales of drugs and violence. And most of these patients seem completely unrepentant after the incident. They receive guidance from social workers, and are presumably offered all the knowledge and means to make the necessary changes in their lives, but they don’t. it’s these patients that I feel don’t deserve the treatment.
The fact is though, these patients are still entitled to treatment, even if they are completely responsible for their condition, unrepentant, and even likely to something similar again. The decision has been passed down that these people should still receive treatment- though I have to say I don’t completely understand it, it is not a health professionals place to define policy.

Has anyone else experienced similar thoughts?