Ethics surrounding the impoverished patient.

Abstract

A case is presented in which an uninsured woman sought care at a medical clinic and then an emergency room, where she was ultimately diagnosed with early cervical cancer. Although cervical cancer at this stage carries an excellent prognosis, the patient was unable to pay for the diagnostic testing, surgery, and additional treatment that she needed and was therefore told that she would be treated in an emergency situation only. The ethics of providing care in a health care system that makes no provision for care of the indigent is discussed, with consideration of obligations of individual physicians as well as of institutions to care for the sick. A single-payer system is advocated as a solution to the problem of providing care to the under- and uninsured.