Psychiatrists face difficulties when deciding on treatment plans for patients who are not interested in receiving help or are lacking the capacity to make responsible decisions.
An ethical case describes an accident where a minor is killed while bungee jumping and her older brother must decide if her wishes to be an organ donor should be honored.
Physicians should approach potentially difficult patients in the emergency department with calm reassurances, in the presence of aides or security to assist the physician, and determine whether emergency or urgent medical care is needed.
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 whether a physician who wants to terminate his professional relationship with a noncompliant hemodialysis patient has an obligation to treat the patient if the patient has a disability.
An ethical case explores whether a workplace physician breached patient confidentiality by divulging an employee's medical information to the employer.
A case exploring who has the authority to make contraceptive choices, 15-year-old girl whose sexually active status is unknown or her mother, and what is the physician's duty in the situation.
Readers are referred to an article by S.A. Schneck in a 1998 issue of JAMA about how physicians make the worst patients and provided with a list of questions about this theory.
