Medical Ethics & Professionalism Flashcards
7 cards from real DHA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Medical Ethics & Professionalism flashcards as text
A patient refuses a blood transfusion on religious grounds despite a life-threatening condition. The physician should:
Answer: Respect the refusal if the patient is competent and informed
A competent, informed adult has the right to refuse any treatment, including life-saving interventions, under the principle of autonomy.
In the DHA framework, which body is primarily responsible for investigating complaints of professional misconduct by healthcare practitioners?
Answer: DHA Grievance and Complaints Committee
The DHA Grievance and Complaints Committee handles investigations into professional misconduct by licensed practitioners.
A physician discovers that a colleague is practicing medicine while impaired by alcohol. The most appropriate ethical action is to:
Answer: Report the colleague to the appropriate regulatory authority
Physicians have a professional duty to report an impaired colleague to protect patient safety, even when it is uncomfortable.
Which ethical principle is MOST directly violated when a physician performs a procedure without obtaining informed consent?
Answer: Autonomy
Failure to obtain informed consent violates autonomy because it denies the patient the right to make an informed decision about their own body.
A terminally ill patient asks the physician to prescribe a lethal dose of medication for assisted dying. Under DHA and UAE law, the physician should:
Answer: Refuse, as assisted dying is not legally or ethically permissible in the UAE
Assisted dying is not legally permitted in the UAE, and physicians must refuse while offering appropriate palliative care alternatives.
A pharmaceutical company offers a physician an all-expenses-paid trip to a conference in exchange for prescribing their medication. This situation represents:
Answer: A conflict of interest that must be disclosed and avoided
Accepting gifts or incentives from pharmaceutical companies that influence prescribing represents a conflict of interest violating professional integrity.
When a patient lacks decision-making capacity and has no advance directive, who is the most appropriate surrogate decision-maker in the DHA context?
Answer: The patient's next of kin or legal guardian
In the absence of an advance directive, the next of kin or legal guardian is the appropriate surrogate decision-maker for an incapacitated patient.