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Medical Ethics Without the Rhetoric: Case Two, Out of Practice

Abstract

You are a member of a surgical group practice. You are attending a medical school class reunion and one of your classmates asks you if Dr. Y still practices. You are shocked by the question as you see no reason why Dr. Y, who is a member of your group, would not be practicing. Your classmate tells you that Dr. Y confided in him almost a decade ago that he had Hepatitis C and was considering leaving medicine. That is about the time that Dr. Y joined your practice. When you return from the reunion, you confront Dr. Y, who admits that he has had Hepatitis C for at least a decade, but offers in his defense that he has not infected anyone. You and your other partners wonder what to do.