Ethical Reflections of Patient Adherence to Treatment Plans

The emerging debate on patient adherence in the clinical literature and recent attempts in medical ethics to provide lists of patient obligations indicate dissatisfaction and an implicit desire to push the moral pendulum of the patient’s responsibility back to the middle. Some ethicists believe that in healthcare, patient accountability means that patients have certain responsibilities, such as the obligation to comply with the treatment. Nonetheless, several oppose this idea, arguing that not all patients are able to accept these obligations and that those duties are not absolute.