Ever heard of the name Gary Muhrcke? He won the first NYC marathon in 1970.
He was also a firefighter. He injured his back in a burning building and was retired with ¾ disability pension. In 1975, he started running again. He said he felt better while exercising compared to taking medication for the pain.
We return to our discussion of can you refuse to treat a patient.
2. Moral opposition to a treatment
The analysis again starts with the contractual nature of the physician-patient relationship. The patient seeks care and the doctor agrees to provide it. In that idealized situation both parties remain in full agreement on the care.
However, along the way the doctor and patient disagree as to what treatments are “moral.” This raises the question to what extent the doctor may step away from that care. A patient may also seek care from the start that the doctor finds morally objectionable but the patient may not have reasonable alternatives (such as very rural area or a very specialized type of practice).
Doctors receive subpoenas all the time. Lawyers send subpoenas for medical records when their client has been injured in a fender-bender; is seeking money from worker’s compensation; and when suing a doctor for negligence. In each of these cases, the lawyer is seeking the medical record to serve his client – (the patient).
What happens when a lawyer sends a subpoena for medical records when his client’s interests are adverse to the patient? This can create a pickle for the doctor. We are taught to comply with subpoenas. We are also taught to respect patient privacy.
Can you refuse to treat a patient? The simple answer is “Yes – of course.” But, when it comes to the law, there are layers to that answer.
I’ve spoken with several doctors over the past couple of months. All were dragged into litigation related to their role as an employer. They were being sued by ex-employees. The allegations varied – sexual harassment; improper termination; discrimination. In 2011, the Equal Employment Opportunity commission (EEOC) received over 100,000 charges of employment discrimination. The … Read more
Any physician who has spent time taking care of trauma patients has been cursed at, spit at, and more. If you are a woman or member of racial or ethnic minority, some patients have belittled you. If you are from another country and speak with an accent, some patients have requested another doctor.
It’s no secret that availability of organs for transplantation in the US pales in comparison to demand. Many die each year waiting for an organ. The systems that oversee transplantation define rules which allow one to “wait in line.” You get an organ based on the seriousness of your condition, your place in line, and whether you can persuade a living donor to participate. (For a living donor, this assumes it’s a “non-vital” organ – eg: one of the donor’s two kidneys, liver, etc. Obviously a living donor cannot donate his heart.)
Watching the news, you’d think that US hospitals are being crushed by the weight of an Ebola epidemic. While Ebola poses a non-negligible risk, it pales in comparison to the epidemic of whining.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes a webpage which gives excellent summary information on government powers to enforce isolation and quarantine.
First, the definitions.
Isolation separates sick people with contagious disease from people who are not sick. Quarantine separates and restricts the movement of people exposed to contagious disease to determine if they become sick.
