A physician has an obligation to order necessary diagnostic tests for a patient on Medicaid with whom he or she has an established patient-physician relationship regardless of whether the cost of the necessary test will be reimbursed.
Professional, practical, clinical and cultural obligations should guide decision making when a funding agency restricts the types of counseling and advice it allows medical professionals to dispense.
Preventing bad outcomes for teens and their offspring was the impetus behind confidential care for reproductive health. Requiring parental involvement created an obstacle to the provision of necessary care.
Supporters of reproductive choice believe that women receive inadequate information about prenatal testing—often after some testing has already been done.
Physician organizations have an ethical obligation to advocate for general improvement of public health, even if it is sometimes at the expense of interests of medical professionals.