A physician should protect the best interest of the patient and the patient's family in the event that an end-of-life case gains media attention and the treating physician and nontreating physicians are asked to comment.
Public health officials have a responsibility to alert the public to prospective dangers without unduly restricting individual freedom or adding to the stigmatization of certain illnesses.
The trend toward casual address and dress in the medical profession could reinforce the power differential that already exists between patient and physician and adversely affect the patient-physician relationship.
The morbidity and mortality conference serves an important educational role for physicians and underscores the importance of error disclosure in improving patient safety.
The relatively new phenomenon of releasing President George W. Bush's medical records to the public also serves the purpose of boosting his political image.
Contemporary medicine has been the subject of many televisions shows. Whether intensely dramatic or humorous and comical, each gives the public a small piece of the picture of American medicine today.