When a child or family begins to stand out because of patterns in history or physical findings, physicians must determine whether to take a closer look at the situation.
An emerging medical ethics issue is whether to delay posting pathology reports to electronic health records (EHR) to allow clinicians time to follow up.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(8):826-832. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.8.pfor1-1608.
Radiologists have a duty to report suspected child abuse and this duty is not satisfied by merely sharing these suspicions with the referring physician if that physician does not intend to follow up.
Several recent court cases illustrate how some states are attempting to mandate physician reporting of all underage sexual activity as instances of child abuse.
Research is often conducted without the knowledge or consent of those whose tissues are banked and poses possible harms to social groups if information about a few members is unscientifically applied to all.