Health care policy changes are needed to minimize the risk to physicians responding to public health emergencies and aid in their longer-term responsibility of protecting and promoting the nation's health.
While physicians have a duty to treat even at the risk of their own personal safety, citizens also have minimal obligations to assist those protecting them during bioterrorism or natural disasters.
The New Model of Practice in Family Medicine has been designed to improve patient care and alleviate financial and administrative pressures on family physicians.
Physicians can ethically withhold information in situations where full disclosure of a diagnosis or treatment would cause great psychological harm to the patient.