title: Are guidelines ethical? Some considerations for general practice.
abstract: Guidelines have been promoted in various roles in general practice, e.g. to improve quality of care, to assist patient decision making, and to improve resource allocation. This paper examines these claims using ethical analysis. Guidelines may help general practitioners to act for thegood of their patients and avoid harm; but, on their own, guidelines cannot ensure quality of care or the protection of patients' interests. Patient choice may be limited rather than enhanced by following guideline recommendations. Guidelines contribute to rationing of resources but do not use explicit citeria for this. The ethical implications for guideline use are complex and far-reaching
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice, University of Edinburgh. wendy.rogers@ed.ac.uk
authors.forename: Wendy A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Rogers
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005194:Family Practice / Q000592:standards*; D010358:Patient Participation; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Health Care and Public Health