David Orentlicher is with the William S. Boyd School of Law and the Health Law Program, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Am J Public Health. 2018 Nov;108(11):1459-1461. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304582. Epub 2018 Sep 25.
Physicians assume a primary ethical duty to place the welfare of their patients above their own interests. Thus, for example, physicians must not exploit the patient-physician relationship for personal financial gain through the practice of self-referral. But how far does the duty to patient welfare extend? Must physicians assume a serious risk to their own health to ensure that patients receive needed care? In the past, physicians were expected to provide care during pandemics without regard to the risk to their own health. In recent decades, however, the duty to treat during pandemics has suffered from erosion even while the risks to physicians from meeting the duty has gone down. After exploring the historical evolution of the duty to treat and the reasons for the duty, I conclude that restoring a strong duty to treat would protect patient welfare without subjecting physicians to undue health risks.
医生承担着将患者的福祉置于自身利益之上的首要道德责任。因此，例如，医生不得通过自我推荐的做法利用医患关系谋取个人经济利益。但是，对患者福利的责任延伸到什么程度呢？医生是否必须承担自身健康的严重风险，以确保患者得到所需的护理？在过去，医生在大流行期间被期望提供护理，而不考虑对自身健康的风险。然而，在最近几十年，治疗的责任甚至在医生履行该责任的风险下降的情况下，也受到侵蚀。在探讨了治疗的责任的历史演变和原因之后，我得出结论，恢复强烈的治疗责任将保护患者的福利，而不会使医生面临不必要的健康风险。
