![]() ![]() Accommodation is primarily about the patient, not the care providers.There may be circumstances where consulting with an institution’s ethics advisor or equivalent would also be prudent. In circumstances where there are questions or doubts about consent or duress, physicians are encouraged to consult with other physicians and contact the CMPA for advice. However, consent to treatment (or refusal of treatment) is valid only if given voluntarily and free from any suggestion of duress or coercion. In both cases, you may feel that the patient is not acting in their own best interest.Ĭapable patients who understand the clinical implications of their decisions are free to choose treatments or approaches that may not be in their best interest. Similarly, a patient may reject a treatment because of their religious beliefs. Accommodation means accepting a patient’s right to make decisions about their medical careĪ patient may be capable of providing consent to treatment, yet wish to delegate all medical decision-making to a third party on cultural grounds.Accommodation can sometimes mean finding a compromise that satisfies the core of the patient’s request while still being reasonable based on the practice setting and resources. For example, you could ask the patient if he or she would consider having the ceremony outdoors. However, it may be possible to accommodate the request in some other way. For example, requests involving the indoor ceremonial use of fire or smoke may have to be denied based on safety. Sometimes it may not seem possible to accommodate a request. ![]() Accommodation does not always mean saying “yes” to the request in its original form.However, it may not be possible to fulfil the same request if it is made in an emergency department. For example, it may be possible to provide a female obstetrician for a pregnant patient who requests this in advance. You may need to forward some requests to your hospital or clinic’s management, depending on the requirements.Ī request that may be reasonably accommodated if made in advance may not necessarily be reasonable in an emergent situation. What constitutes undue hardship will depend on the circumstances. Human rights legislation only requires accommodation in so far as it does not cause undue hardship. Reasonable accommodation does not mean having to say yes in every circumstance. Accommodation will depend on the circumstances. ![]() A patient can allege discrimination only if their request for accommodation is rooted in one of these grounds. The grounds vary between jurisdictions, but generally include characteristics such as race, sexual orientation, religion, language, gender identity, and disability. Human rights complaints must be based on one of the protected grounds set out in provincial or territorial human rights codes. To minimize the risk of a human rights complaint, the duty to accommodate means that a patient’s reasonable request should be considered unless it would cause undue hardship to the physician, the hospital, or others involved in implementing the request. Reducing the risk of a human rights complaint In cases such as these, “equal treatment” means making reasonable efforts to accommodate requests, taking into account your practice setting and resources. ![]() For example, if a patient’s religion prevents her from seeing a male obstetrician, failure to make reasonable attempts to provide her with a female obstetrician may be seen as discriminatory. Refusing to make reasonable attempts to accommodate a patient’s request for a particular healthcare provider or treatment could be perceived as discrimination, which in turn could lead to a regulatory authority (College) or human rights complaint. Section 1 of the Canadian Medical Association's Code of Ethics and Professionalism 1 and Section 23 of Québec's Code of Ethics of Physicians 2 prohibit physicians from discriminating against their patients.
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