Events

NOTE: This month’s Ethics For Lunch will be held virtually.

Join us online here.

Click here for CME Information associated with this event.

Case
Your primary care patient with a PMH Long COVID and Type II diabetes presents for routine follow up care. She has children who were born in the United States though she herself lacks documentation status. She asks if you would be willing to provide her medical care through telehealth for the near future, citing concerns that ICE agents have been seen at her children’s school and could come to our clinic’s waiting room. She also asks that you adjust her Epic to no longer document her country of origin or preferred language.

Learning Objectives

• Identify specific healthcare challenges and policies affecting immigrants without documentation status
• Analyze tensions between core ethical principles in a case of a patient without documentation status
• Review tools and strategies to improve medical care for this vulnerable population

Discussion Questions

1. Is providing telehealth care an ethically sound decision in this case? What ethical principles are in conflict?
2. Is it ethically permissible to adjust her demographic details? What steps can you take to protect her confidentiality?
3. What measures could be taken by the clinician and the clinic to create a more equitable environment for undocumented individuals? How can healthcare systems better address disparities in access to care for this population?
4. What are your legal and ethical responsibilities if immigration authorities appear in our clinic spaces?