This commentary on a case considers a transgender patient’s mental health and risk for DVT in ethical decision making about feminizing gender-affirming hormone therapy.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(6):E386-390. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.386.
Benjamin W. Frush, MD, MA, John Brewer Eberly Jr, MD, MA, and Farr A. Curlin, MD
Physicians should accommodate patients’ religious or spiritual understanding of suffering, even when they disagree, as long as they uphold their commitment to health. Both physicians and chaplains, who promote patients’ spiritual well-being, should respectfully challenge patients when necessary.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(7):E613-620. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.613.
When the patient delivers a low-birth-weight infant that requires extensive time in the neonatal intensive, should she be held responsible? Where do we draw the line? More importantly, on what basis do we draw the line?
Dr. Jones has a duty to determine how the test results were lost and why, disclose this information to his patient, Mrs. Taylor, and see that she is not held responsible for the costs of rerunning the test.
Critical skills required to weigh decisions with serious consequences, manipulate information rationally, and choose wisely are skills that are likely to be impaired by frontal lobe injury that results in personality change.