Dr Lisa Fuller joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article: “How Should Organizations and Clinicians Help Marginalized Patients Manage Loneliness as a Harm of Climate Change?”
Because maintaining strict confidentiality is often untenable, or even illegal, determining the extent of protections in the postmortem context ultimately entails a weighing of the various interests at stake.
Physicians are not obligated to offer testing or treatments that are not medically indicated—even if patients demand them. This does not mean, however, that a physician should be dismissive of the patient’s concerns.
Karen E. Hoffman, MD, MHSc, MPH and Paul L. Nguyen, MD
Guidelines require interpretation and should not be mindlessly applied as a template of care for all patients, particularly when there are inconsistencies between clinical practice guidelines developed by medical groups.