August 14, 2009

Problems with Medical Ethics: Holistic Ethics


It’s been established that doctors who own their own x-ray machines do a lot more x-rays on their patients than doctors who don’t own their own machines. Some of this, no doubt, is because it’s so convenient, and the doctor could get results right away. But part of it is also the fact that the doctor will earn money not just from the visit but also from the x-ray. Knowing this, I recently changed dentists. dental x-ray machine

I had a good dentist. But it really bugged me that every time I was there, he was selling me on…whitening products, tooth grinding products, and x-rays. That was the final straw. He told me that I needed a full set of x-rays every year. I had no dental insurance, and would be paying in cash. I asked if it were really necessary, and he told me it was essential. I asked him if this had teeth2 ever been studied, and if he could send over to my office any papers about the difference in outcomes between those people who went to the dentist and had x-rays and those who went to the dentist and didn’t have annual x-rays. He said he didn’t have a paper like that. So I got a new dentist, who is very nice. She examined me and told me that a crown was worn on one side. She said, “We should replace that.” It would cost $1200. I chose to wait until something went wrong with it.

Why does the dental profession think it’s OK for every dentist to have their own x-ray machines? Is their conflict-of-interest somehow less powerful than a medical doctor’s? Are dentists immune from the influences of conflict-of-interest?

Every now and then, I am sent a flyer from a company looking to produce for me bottles of vitamins and ‘supplements’ with my name on them. The idea would be that I’d sell the products in my office, telling patients that they need these products, and that the products are not available elsewhere. Obviously, they would be a lot more expensive than similar (maybe identical or superior) products you could get at the supermarket. I would give everyone the same advice: be cautious about the so-called professional—wait, anybody—who says you need to buy something you can only get from them.

Of course this applies to physicians as well. Do you really need that follow up visit if you are fully recovered? Do you really need that follow up x-ray? Do you really need to return for all 16 visits? (I don’t want to seem too cavalier about this. It’s tempting to think we don’t need follow up care when we’re feeling OK. But that’s a serious mistake for many problems, especially the ones we might not feel, like diabetes or high blood pressure. Sometimes, even when the baby looks great, I really need to weigh and examine the baby every day.)

The never-mentioned elephant in the room—one of several—will get me in troubleelephant1 here. [Maybe by burying it in the middle of this 4th post on ethics will I prevent the storm of backlash I expect.] Alternative Medicine.

I want to keep this to a reasonable length, and not focus on safety or efficacy of alternative treatments. I reserve the right to rant at another time. The topic is ethics.

A PubMed search of ethics has 139,072 references. A search of ethics AND chiropractic has 63. How come when my patients go to the acupuncturist, for example, they are told they need another visit, and another visit and another? How many visits does it take? Has this been studied? How come they are so often sold on various supplements and herbal remedies only available there in the practitioner’s office? Is it ethical to do business that way? Is it ethical to prescribe products which are untested? Do they need to disclose that the products have not been tested? Do they have to disclose that what’s on the label may not include stuff that’s in the product? Do the practitioners need to obtain some sort of informed consent for their procedures or for these untested products? Is it ethical for these other practitioners to raise doubts about the treatment plan I proposed? Is it ethical for me to raise doubts about the alternative treatments and medications my patient is taking? In Squirmy, I think it was the pharmacist at the ‘natural’ pharmacy who advised the parents to put calendula cream on their baby. Exactly which health care provider is ethically restricted in what they can say and which provider isn’t?

In many places, there are laws and liability precedents that restrict what licensed physicians do. But surely the ethics of what is done with patients doesn’t vary with the initials after your name. I don’t think that my patients should get cheated or carelessly harmed by a doctor. Or a chiropractor, ayurvedic practitioner, naturopath or guru with a fleet of Rolls-Royces.

In this series of posts, I complain that there’s too much attention placed on really unusual medical situations and not enough on common situations. But the field has developed a cadre of smart, perceptive thinkers who are very quick to understand some of the problem issues in patient care. It would be great if they looked at patient care from a holistic point of view, not just the patient-physician interface. Real-world medical decisions, faced by patients every day, touch on all aspects of their care. Their personal relationships, their supplemental caregivers, their medications and supplements, financial situation and alternative practitioners all influence the patient’s wellness. It would be great if our field of medical ethics could take its eye away from the telescope and see the whole Milky Way.

milky way candy

There is still an ongoing debate about whether physicians can refuse to provide certain services depending on their own consciences. One side believes that doctors shouldn’t reasonably be forced to give a patient advice they don’t believe in—like using birth control, for example. The other side thinks that the patient won’t know what the doctor believes, and as their medical expert who is supposed to have their best interest at heart, so the doctor should present all available options, including choices they wouldn’t make personally, such as abortion. In 2005, there was an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine discussing the case of pharmacists who refused to fill prescriptions for pills that could terminate a pregnancy. My letter in response was published, but here’s what I said, and I believe it more today, 4 years later:

To the Editor: It is curious that pharmacists might refuse to fill a prescription. Must all the prescriptions they fill result from morally acceptable diagnoses? The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) does not allow breaches in confidentiality about diagnoses and therapies so that strangers can make individual judgments about whether to cooperate in treating a patient. A prescription may be written for a diagnosis of which the pharmacist is unaware (e.g., oral contraceptives to treat ovarian dysfunction). There are many other people involved in every patient's care. What if receptionists refused to make an appointment or refused to give the physician a telephone message because they did not approve of something? The pharmacist might refuse to fill a prescription, the cashier might refuse to sell the prescribed item, or the driver of the distributor's delivery truck might refuse to transport it. Why is the pharmacist's moral judgment dominant? Ethically, there should be open disclosure that some prescribed drugs, products, or services will not be provided. Disclosure is also ethically required for diagnoses, symptoms, or clinical issues about which the pharmacist, health care worker, or others in the chain of health care delivery have such feelings that their cooperation in the care of patients is compromised. Will this trend inevitably lead to a balkanization of medicine, whereby patients will go only to doctors of their own sect, who prescribe only for pharmacists of that sect, and refer only to specialists of that sect? Shouldn't patients be warned?


Wolffe Nadoolman, M.D., M.B.A.

1 comment:

  1. Caveat emptor shouldn't be the rule when it comes to medical care due to the knowledge and power differential between the patient and doctor. Patients feel compelled to google every ache and pain before they go to the doctor partly as a way to educate themselves but also so they assess if the doctor is treating them appropriately. Doctors understandably see this research and the questions it raises as undermining their authority. Very sad. Perhaps doctors should wear patches on their white coats for their sponsors. GPs could have it made if they got a Tide sponsorship!

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