A physician should protect the best interest of the patient and the patient's family in the event that an end-of-life case gains media attention and the treating physician and nontreating physicians are asked to comment.
Public health officials have a responsibility to alert the public to prospective dangers without unduly restricting individual freedom or adding to the stigmatization of certain illnesses.
Physicians need to perform their due diligence and practice caution when prescribing addictive pain medications to relieve their patients' chronic pain due to increased federal monitoring of pain prescriptions.