| Title |
When Relatives and Friends Ask Physicians for Medical Advice: Ethical, Legal, and Practical Considerations
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Journal of General Internal Medicine, September 2009
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s11606-009-1127-1 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Gregory L. Eastwood |
| Abstract |
Physicians often are asked for advice about medical matters by relatives and friends. These range from requests for simple information to requests for medical opinion and judgment and more substantial involvement by the physician. I comment on the motivations and expectations of the requester and the physician, and the legal, ethical, and practical considerations related to such requests. I recommend: (1) Be clear about the expectations of the requester and yourself, including whether you are being asked for simple factual information, your medical judgment and opinion, or more substantial involvement in the situation. (2) Treat your interactions with relatives or friends with the same professional expertise and judgment as you would any patient. (3) Be aware that a physical examination and especially charging a fee strengthen the establishment of a legal relationship with the requester as your patient. (4) Respect the requester's autonomy and confidentiality and conform to HIPAA requirements where applicable. (5) Be aware of the potential conflict between your roles as a relative or friend and as a physician. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 6 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 3 | 50% |
| Unknown | 3 | 50% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 6 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 33 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 2 | 6% |
| Unknown | 31 | 94% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Bachelor | 11 | 33% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 5 | 15% |
| Student > Master | 5 | 15% |
| Researcher | 3 | 9% |
| Professor | 1 | 3% |
| Other | 2 | 6% |
| Unknown | 6 | 18% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 15 | 45% |
| Social Sciences | 2 | 6% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 2 | 6% |
| Business, Management and Accounting | 1 | 3% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 1 | 3% |
| Other | 5 | 15% |
| Unknown | 7 | 21% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 25. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 16 May 2023.
All research outputs
#1,492,223
of 25,204,049 outputs
Outputs from Journal of General Internal Medicine
#1,177
of 8,121 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#4,194
of 102,502 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of General Internal Medicine
#5
of 36 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,204,049 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 94th percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 8,121 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 22.1. This one has done well, scoring higher than 85% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 36 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 88% of its contemporaries.