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38 - Rural healthcare ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2009

By
William A. Nelson  and
Jared M. Schmidek
Edited by
Peter A. Singer  and
A. M. Viens
William A. Nelson
Affiliation:
Associate Professor Department of Community and Family Medicine Dartmouth Medical School, USA
Jared M. Schmidek
Affiliation:
Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences Dartmouth Medical School Hanover, USA
Peter A. Singer
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
A. M. Viens
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

A primary care physician that works in a small, remote hospital diagnoses a patient with lung cancer and refers the patient to a distant large medical center for treatment. After several overnight trips to the medical center, the patient returns to the primary care provider to indicate that she is no longer willing to travel and wants to receive care at the small hospital.

A rural psychologist, also a member of the town's school board, discovers during a family counseling session that one of the patients, a schoolteacher, has missed many teaching days because of a significant alcohol problem.

A family physician treats a long-term patient for a minor work-related injury. The patient is very depressed and tearful but refuses to discuss it. The physician encourages the patient to see a mental health professional to be further assessed and, if needed, receive treatment. The patient acknowledges feeling depressed but does not want help. If people see his truck at the mental health provider's office, everyone will know that he has “that” type of problem. The patient also requests that the physician not make any reference to depression in his medical record, because his sister-in-law works at the doctor's office.

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The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics , pp. 289 - 298
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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  • Rural healthcare ethics
    • By William A. Nelson, Associate Professor Department of Community and Family Medicine Dartmouth Medical School, USA, Jared M. Schmidek, Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences Dartmouth Medical School Hanover, USA
  • Edited by Peter A. Singer, University of Toronto, A. M. Viens, University of Oxford
  • Book: The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics
  • Online publication: 30 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511545566.044
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Rural healthcare ethics
    • By William A. Nelson, Associate Professor Department of Community and Family Medicine Dartmouth Medical School, USA, Jared M. Schmidek, Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences Dartmouth Medical School Hanover, USA
  • Edited by Peter A. Singer, University of Toronto, A. M. Viens, University of Oxford
  • Book: The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics
  • Online publication: 30 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511545566.044
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Rural healthcare ethics
    • By William A. Nelson, Associate Professor Department of Community and Family Medicine Dartmouth Medical School, USA, Jared M. Schmidek, Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences Dartmouth Medical School Hanover, USA
  • Edited by Peter A. Singer, University of Toronto, A. M. Viens, University of Oxford
  • Book: The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics
  • Online publication: 30 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511545566.044
Available formats
×