A new physician survey on morals in medicine reveals attitudes on tricky situations with patients or money.
Medscape asked more than 4,100 U.S. physicians how they would react to some ethically challenging scenarios. Most respondents were male, while a third were female, and most were older than 70 years old, followed by physicians in the 35 to 44-year range.
“Relationships with patients can become quite tricky,” the report read. “Sometimes a patient’s desires and the physician’s view of right or wrong may not align.”
When asked if they would treat a family who refused standard vaccines, most physicians (61%) responded they would, while a fifth said no and another fifth said it depends. This is similar to the breakdown in responses to the same question in Medscape’s 2020 report.
“I do think you have a duty to try to change their minds,” Arthur Caplan, Ph.D., a New York University professor of bioethics and Medscape contributor, said in the report. “If they still won’t get vaccinated, I would say you have an obligation to see them a few more times, but then it wouldn’t be unethical to give up.”
Conversely, about half of doctors said they would not see patients who don’t mask or social distance. However, the report noted it is important for physicians to examine their motivation behind such a decision. If the goal is to protect the health of others, that is justified; it must not be because of judgment of that patient.
Older physicians were more likely than those under 45...
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