title: Harmful Emotional Responses that Patients and Physicians May Have When their Values Conflict.
abstract: One of the most difficult decisions a clinician may face is when, if ever, to decline what a patient wants, based on the clinician's own moral conscience. Regardless of what the clinician decides, the outcome may be deeply emotionally painful for both parties, and the pain may last. I will discuss this pain, how it occurs, and what we can do to try to reduce it before, during, and after a conflict arises. Approaches include explaining how we are like the patient or doctor, that no one is perfect, and that what we do is not who we are.
authors.affiliation: Programs in Medical Ethics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, Maryland 20814 USA. edmund.howe@uhuhs.edu.
authors.forename: Edmund G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Howe
mesh_terms: D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003657:Decision Making; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D009014:Morals; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*