Carlos Martinez, MPH, Lauren Carruth, PhD, Hannah Janeway, MD, Lahra Smith, PhD, Katharine M. Donato, PhD, Carlos Piñones-Rivera, PhD, James Quesada, PhD, and Seth M. Holmes, MD, PhD
AMA J Ethics. 2022;E275-282. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2022.275.
An undercurrent in all debates about allocation of health care resources to the poor is the matter of access to and coverage of health care for immigrants, particularly low-income and undocumented ones.
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.
Protecting one’s moral integrity may require a conscience clause that protects positive conscience claims by permitting individuals to perform actions that are otherwise prohibited by legal or institutional rules.