An attending physician in an urban teaching hospital faces an ethical dilemma when a mother refused to allow an African American medical student to examine her child.
Physicians must be able to decide when to accept a patient's decision in the event that the decision seems irrational or does not seem to be in the patient's best interest.
An ethical case explores what a physician should do when a patient's health insurance will not cover a screening test for cancer despite the fact that a family history puts the patient at increased risk of developing the disease.