Newly arrived immigrants seeking health care in the United States encounter several problems including language, cultural, societal, and logistic barriers.
Physicians need to help surrogate decision makers to make treatment and end-of-life decisions for those with severe neurological damage by proving a realistic prognosis and maintain strong lines of communication.
When serving an ethnically diverse population, it is imperative that physicians have an understanding of a patients' cultural background and attitudes towards health, nutrition and personal care.
Derrel Zeno, Coreen Domingo, Anh Tran, Frank Martin, Kimberly O'Malley, Paul Haidet, Richard Street, and Carol Ashton
Community education about how patients can best communicate with their physicians has been successful in various communities, particularly when working with an ethnically diverse patient population.
An ethical case concerns a 16-year-old girl suffering from systemic scleroderma with a poor prognosis and her father's cultural beliefs, which do not allow for discussions about end-of-life care.