Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- PART ONE DEFINING MEDICAL PROFESSIONALISM
- PART TWO CASES INVOLVING MEDICAL STUDENTS
- PART THREE CASES INVOLVING PHYSICIANS
- 3 Principle of Primacy of Patient Welfare
- 4 Principle of Patient Autonomy
- 5 Principle of Social Justice
- 6 Commitment to Honesty with Patients
- 7 Commitment to Patient Confidentiality
- 8 Commitment to Improving Quality of Care
- 9 Commitment to Maintaining Trust by Managing Conflicts of Interest
- 10 Commitment to Professional Responsibilities
- APPENDIX: Cases by Specialty
- Index
- References
5 - Principle of Social Justice
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- PART ONE DEFINING MEDICAL PROFESSIONALISM
- PART TWO CASES INVOLVING MEDICAL STUDENTS
- PART THREE CASES INVOLVING PHYSICIANS
- 3 Principle of Primacy of Patient Welfare
- 4 Principle of Patient Autonomy
- 5 Principle of Social Justice
- 6 Commitment to Honesty with Patients
- 7 Commitment to Patient Confidentiality
- 8 Commitment to Improving Quality of Care
- 9 Commitment to Maintaining Trust by Managing Conflicts of Interest
- 10 Commitment to Professional Responsibilities
- APPENDIX: Cases by Specialty
- Index
- References
Summary
“Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience, but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice.”
Alexander SolzhenitsynSOCIAL JUSTICE – CARDIOLOGY
A fifty-five-year-old woman complains that her husband is getting better care than she is for her coronary artery disease. They both have angina. She noted that her husband received a stress test, cardiac catheterization, and stent placement within three days after complaining of chest pain. She received the same treatment over a month period and only after she had repeatedly complained of chest pain to her internist.
A Perspective from a Cardiologist
Clinical Background
While women are more likely to die from heart disease than any other cause, diagnostic approaches to their chest pain are often less aggressive than those for men. Twenty years ago it was reported that 40 percent of male patients with abnormal exercise radionuclide scans were referred for cardiac catheterization whereas only 4 percent of female patients were referred for testing. In an analysis of patients who were entered in the CURE (Clopidogrel in Unstable Angina to Prevent Recurrent Events) trial, a study of patients treated for acute coronary syndrome, women were found to be less likely than men to receive coronary angiography (25.4 percent vs. 29.5 percent). These genderrelated differences in care are not limited to the United States.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Professionalism in MedicineA Case-Based Guide for Medical Students, pp. 189 - 229Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009