Alexa Curt and Margaret Samuels-Kalow, MD, MPhil, MSHP
Division between medical and dental care exacerbates health inequity and forces many with compromised access to seek oral health care in emergency departments.
AMA J Ethics. 2022;24(1):E13-18. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2022.13.
Regularly scheduled dialysis is not standard of care for most undocumented immigrants in the United States, so preventative care, and advocacy for it, is needed.
AMA J Ethics. 2019;21(1):E86-92. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2019.86.
This case illustrates how emergency physicians find themselves with an empty toolbox and must compromise to meet their responsibilities to patients and themselves.
There are few situations in which the standard of care is so clear-cut as to preclude physician judgment. Assessing the degree of need (not just the standard of care) when asking a patient to spend money requires judgment.