Health

Should doctors be allowed to refuse treatment to patients with unhealthy lifestyles?

For

It is unfair for others to pay for repeated self-harm.

Against

A doctor's duty is to help, not judge.

Anonymous excerpts, translated where noted.

For

  • Hence, no common law duty or ethical imperative exists outside of EMTALA or a patient-physician relationship that requires a physician to treat every patient.
    RedditOriginal language: English
  • we refuse to take diet or lifestyle advice and we typically do not follow preventative treatment.
    RedditOriginal language: English

Against

  • I don’t think our jobs are to control the patients medical care, rather to educate and guide our patients
    RedditOriginal language: English
  • Refusing to treat a patient based on discriminatory beliefs (e.g., because of the patient’s gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or lifestyle) is strictly prohibited
    RedditOriginal language: English
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