The legal definition of a patient and the corresponding duties of the physician have been debated in state courts for over a century, and many aspects of the question are still unresolved.
Medical school faculty have a nonnegotiable duty to report students whose professional behavior falls seriously short of the mark. If they refrain from fulfilling this duty for fear of retaliation, the antiharassment pendulum has truly swung too far.
In cost-effectiveness research, the cost of a medical intervention is reported as a dollar amount per quality-adjusted life year gained—the quality of health and the length of time over which the health state exists.
Physician partners in a clinical practice should consider the ethical implications of joining a hospital system-based ACO, including whether there will be pressure to consider the hospital system’s bottom line.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(7):622-629. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.7.bndr1-1507