Ethics of withholding medical test results?

Parent Cafe
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<p>Donna, I think we don’t have to worry about those types of people suddenly becoming pro-choice in the case of LGBT babies because there is no amount of proof that will ever convince them that God made the child that way (in other words, that being LGBT isn’t a choice).</p>

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<p>Absolutely not, romani. The right to safe, legal abortions has always been the norm in Europe, and they cannot understand why we still have our knickers in a twist about this.</p>

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<p>I thought that was the case, but I’m open to any evidence otherwise. </p>

<p>It’s not even about the abortions- it’s the idea that a doctor could out and out lie OR withhold medical information. That is barbaric.</p>

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<p>Has ALWAYS been the norm? Can it really be always?
Here is something from 2003
<a href=“http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6235557.stm[/url]”>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6235557.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And here is something from 2007
<a href=“http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6235557.stm[/url]”>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6235557.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And 2010
<a href=“http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/20/abortion-europe-right[/url]”>http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/20/abortion-europe-right&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I assume some things are unique to Ireland.</p>

<p>This looks informative;
<a href=“http://www.ippfen.org/NR/rdonlyres/DB347D31-0159-4C7D-BE5C-428623ABCA25/0/Pub_AbortionlegislationinEuropeIPPFEN_Feb2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ippfen.org/NR/rdonlyres/DB347D31-0159-4C7D-BE5C-428623ABCA25/0/Pub_AbortionlegislationinEuropeIPPFEN_Feb2009.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The comment was about medical ethics in other countries.</p>

<p>"Other countries are far more advanced in their medical ethics practices (as in, they have more, better, and longer-established Medical Ethics and Bioethics programs) than we do. I legitimately want to know if this kind of legislation exists elsewhere. "</p>

<p>Anybody have a link? It seems like it would be hard to lump all of Europe together.</p>

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<p>Are you saying that I lumped all of Europe together? I specifically said other countries.</p>

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<p>The comment following yours mentioned Europe. This really interests me though, especially with regard to how “psychiatry” is defined. I often think I should have studied anthropology instead of medicine.</p>

<p>Okay, maybe in addition to medicine. Do you have any sources on international medical ethics I can look at?</p>

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<p>There’s always medical anthropology (my undergraduate path). </p>

<p>Not specifically. That came from the fact that I’ve been looking for bioethics graduate programs for the past year or so and an extremely large chunk of them are abroad. I’ve come across numerous articles about bioethics programs here and abroad but I never saved them and I really don’t want to search for them at 2:30 in the morning.</p>

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<p>Okay. It’s not even midnight here!</p>

<p>“Teaching Medical Ethics In Other Countries” 1985
<a href=“http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1375123/pdf/jmedeth00252-0026.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1375123/pdf/jmedeth00252-0026.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>“Medical Ethics”
<a href=“http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/MedicalEthics.pdf[/url]”>http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/MedicalEthics.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>“Time For A Unified Approach…”
<a href=“Time for a unified approach to medical ethics | Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine | Full Text”>Time for a unified approach to medical ethics | Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine | Full Text;

<p>Okay, I guess I am drifting off topic. Good night!</p>

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<p>Have we removed Ireland from the list of industrialized countries, or is that not what you were trying to say?</p>

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<p>shrinkrap, thanks for those links on abortion laws in Europe. What jumps out at me is that, while on the maps most of Europe is “green,” which signifies that abortion is available “upon request,” there are still some restrictions – e.g., if the mother is under age 16, parental consent is required. (That’s just one example from one country.)</p>

<p>In other words, if we look to laws in Europe as being more “evolved” and reasonable than laws in the US, we may need to accept certain restrictions that we’ve been fighting like crazy.</p>

<p>The links to the Europe countries’ laws remind me that, when I was in HS during the '60s, there were stories of women going to Sweden for an abortion. Obviously, only the well-to-do could arrange such a thing; for everyone else, it was on the downlow with a doctor, or in a back alley.</p>

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<p>Is it legal anywhere in Northern Ireland to withhold test results from women?</p>

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<p>DonnaL, welcome back. Where have you been??</p>

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<p>So now I am starting to wonder if only women should be permitted to vote on issues–birth control, abortion choice,etc–affecting women’s bodies. </p>

<p>Likewise, I suppose that only men would then get to vote on issues concerning ED drugs. BTW, are ED meds covered by most health insurances?</p>

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<p>I don’t know, merlin. I really don’t think the two issues are comparable though. If we were talking about using birth control as a means of controlling PCOS and ED meds as a way of controlling ED, then it would be much more of the same type of issue. </p>

<p>However, this is about doctors withholding life-changing information from a patient. A more comparable situation (but still not really the same) would be not telling a male patient that he carries the Tay-Sachs gene because he might use condoms to prevent pregnancy and the doctor doesn’t believe in using condoms.</p>

<p>Also, I don’t really think any of these issues have been voted on by the public. The ones that have have been turned down. Rather, these are voted on by legislatures- often going against the will of the public. I don’t believe in making it sex-specific because this issue affects BOTH sexes. Rather, I think it’s ridiculous that we don’t have more equal representation in the government but that’s a whole nother issue. It’s also ridiculous that we’re making laws that specifically target only one gender. Withholding medical information from a patient against their will should never be allowed no matter what the situation is.</p>

<p>I cannot believe the issue of withholding medical information, period, is up for debate in 2012.</p>

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<p>"are ED meds covered by most health insurances? "</p>

<p>Not usually, but in some cases. I believe they are covered if you have diabetes as the primary cause.</p>