EthicsAdvancedMMI station
A patient with severe depression and no terminal illness asks for medical assistance in dying. It's legal where you work. What do you do?
Ethical dilemma: Competing duties with no perfect answer: consent, confidentiality, fairness.
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Sample answer outline
- Respond with compassion. Take the request seriously as an expression of suffering, and assess suicide risk now.
- Assess capacity carefully: depression can affect decisions, but it does not automatically remove capacity.
- Review treatment so far and offer the best available psychiatric care. Many jurisdictions require this before mental illness alone can qualify.
- Follow the legal process: safeguards, independent assessments, waiting periods, multidisciplinary review.
- Be open about your own values; if you object, refer without obstructing.
What makes it work
- It treats the person, not just the request.
- It shows you know the extra safeguards for mental illness.
Avoid
- Dismissing the request outright, or approving it without assessment.
How to approach ethical dilemma questions
- Clarify the facts and what you would want to know before acting.
- Name who is affected and the principles in tension: autonomy, doing good, avoiding harm, fairness, confidentiality.
- Walk through realistic options, starting with the least drastic.
- Choose a course of action, explain why, and say who you would involve.
What it tests
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