EthicsAdvancedMMI station
A mother refuses a life-saving blood transfusion for her 4-year-old because of her religious beliefs. What do you do?
Ethical dilemma: Competing duties with no perfect answer: consent, confidentiality, fairness.
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Sample answer outline
- The child's best interests come first. Parents' right to refuse has limits when a child's life is at risk.
- Approach the mother with empathy, explore her beliefs and offer every acceptable alternative that is medically safe.
- Involve the senior physician, ethics and the hospital's legal team early. Courts can authorize treatment.
- In a true emergency, treat to save the child's life as the law allows.
- Protect the relationship: this family will still care for the child afterward.
What makes it work
- It shows exactly where autonomy ends: a parent deciding for a child.
- It handles the family with compassion, not force alone.
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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