Limits to Patient Preferences

Patients are typically the most vulnerable individuals in health care encounters, and this is a core reason to respect patients’ preferences. There are limits, however, to what clinicians should be expected to tolerate when patients’ preferences express unjust bias. Where those limits should be placed—and why—and who is obliged to enforce them in health care settings are ethical questions we investigate in this issue.

Volume 21, Number 6: E475-545 Full Issue PDF