The Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs reports how the AMA's Code of Medical Ethics has evolved over the years to provide two opinions that address which patients physicians have the right to choose to serve and when physicians can terminate a therapeutic relationship.
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.