There are U.S. regulations on drug sales by Internet pharmacies; there is a need to make life-sustaining drugs available at prices more people can afford.
As courts continue to define the balance between a First Amendment right of free speech, the public's right to know, and protection of the private, physicians must take care to protect patient privacy in any publishing endeavor.
Writing a case study of a psychiatric patient may change the patient-physician dynamic even if the patient consents to be written about. And when the patient is a minor and consent must involve her parents, the process becomes even more complicated.
A medical student describes and comments on a case in which a patient who experienced complications following a cardiac catheterization wished to remain in the hospital until the injury to his groin was entirely healed.