Ethics Flashcards
True or false: Once patients sign a statement giving consent, they must continue treatment.
False. Patients may change their minds at any time. Exceptions to the requirement of informed consent include emergency situations and patients without decision-making capacity.
A 15-year-old pregnant girl requires hospitalization for preeclampsia. Is parental consent required?
No. Parental consent is not necessary for the medical treatment of pregnant minors.
A doctor refers a patient for an MRI at a facility he/she owns.
Conflict of interest.
Involuntary psychiatric hospitalization can be undertaken for which 3 reasons?
The patient is a danger to self, a danger to others, or gravely disabled (unable to provide for basic needs).
True or false: It is more difficult to justify the withdrawal of futile care than to have withheld the treatment in the first place.
False. Withdrawing a nonbeneficial treatment is ethically similar to withholding a nonindicated one.
A mother refuses to allow her child to be vaccinated.
A parent has the right to refuse treatment for his/her child as long as it does not pose a serious threat to the well-being of the child.
When can a physician refuse to continue treating a patient on the grounds of futility?
When there is no rationale for treatment, maximal intervention is failing, a given intervention has already failed, and treatment will not achieve the goals of care.
An 8-year-old child is in a serious accident. She requires emergent transfusion, but her parents are not present.
Treat immediately. Consent is implied in emergency situations.
A 15-year-old girl seeking treatment for an STD asks that her parents not be told about her condition.
Minors may consent to care for STDs without parental consent or knowledge.
Conditions in which confidentiality must be overridden.
Real threat of harm to third parties; suicidal intentions; certain contagious diseases; elder and child abuse.
Involuntary commitment or isolation for medical treatment may be undertaken for what reason?
When treatment noncompliance represents a serious danger to public health (eg, active TB).
A 10-year-old child presents in status epilepticus, but her parents refuse treatment on religious grounds.
Treat because the disease represents an immediate threat to the child’s life. Then seek a court order.
A son asks that his mother not be told about her recently discovered cancer.
A physician can withhold information from the patient only in the rare case of therapeutic privilege or if the patient requests not to be told. A patient’s family cannot require the physician to withhold information from the patient.
