DHA Medical Ethics & Professionalism 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A patient refuses a blood transfusion on religious grounds despite a life-threatening condition. The physician should:
- Administer the transfusion to save the patient's life
- Respect the refusal if the patient is competent and informed (Correct answer)
- Seek a court order to override the patient's decision
- Transfer the patient immediately without discussion
Correct 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.
Question 2: In the DHA framework, which body is primarily responsible for investigating complaints of professional misconduct by healthcare practitioners?
- Dubai Police Department
- DHA Grievance and Complaints Committee (Correct answer)
- Ministry of Interior
- Dubai Courts
Correct answer: DHA Grievance and Complaints Committee
The DHA Grievance and Complaints Committee handles investigations into professional misconduct by licensed practitioners.
Question 3: A physician discovers that a colleague is practicing medicine while impaired by alcohol. The most appropriate ethical action is to:
- Ignore it as it is not the physician's responsibility
- Confront the colleague privately and take no further action
- Report the colleague to the appropriate regulatory authority (Correct answer)
- Inform the impaired colleague's patients directly
Correct 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.
Question 4: Which ethical principle is MOST directly violated when a physician performs a procedure without obtaining informed consent?
- Beneficence
- Non-maleficence
- Autonomy (Correct answer)
- Justice
Correct 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.
Question 5: 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:
- Comply if the patient provides written consent
- Refuse, as assisted dying is not legally or ethically permissible in the UAE (Correct answer)
- Refer to a specialist in palliative care who can fulfill the request
- Consult the hospital ethics committee and proceed if approved
Correct 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.
Question 6: A pharmaceutical company offers a physician an all-expenses-paid trip to a conference in exchange for prescribing their medication. This situation represents:
- An acceptable continuing education opportunity
- A conflict of interest that must be disclosed and avoided (Correct answer)
- Standard industry practice with no ethical implications
- A valid incentive that improves prescribing knowledge
Correct 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.
Question 7: When a patient lacks decision-making capacity and has no advance directive, who is the most appropriate surrogate decision-maker in the DHA context?
- The attending nurse
- The hospital administrator
- The patient's next of kin or legal guardian (Correct answer)
- The treating physician acting alone
Correct 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.
DHA Medical Ethics & Professionalism 4
A patient refuses a blood transfusion on religious grounds despite a life-threatening condition.
The physician should: