The effect of patients' noncompliance on their surgeons' obligations.
Effective physicians recognize that most patients have difficulty following instructions for a variety of reasons. That difficulty is best understood as nonadherence rather than noncompliance. The surgeon's role is to make the patient's choice informed, to be aware of the risk factors for nonadherence, and not to make adherence any more difficult than it has to be. The patient's role is to make choices between value-laden alternatives. Society's role is to distribute scarce medical resources equitably to patients who can and want to adhere to the necessary regimen to benefit from them.
Jacobson
Jay A
JA
Division of Medical Ethics, Department of Internal Medicine, LDS Hospital and University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84143, USA. jay.jacobson@intermountainmail.org
D000574:American Medical Association; D032781:Codes of Ethics; D026690:Ethics, Clinical; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D028681:Moral Obligations; D010819:Physician's Role; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics*; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000941:ethics; D016312:Treatment Refusal; D014481:United States