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Commentary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2000

Henry S. Perkins
Affiliation:
Henry S. Perkins, M.D., is Professor of Medicine and Interim Director of the Center for Ethics and the Humanities in Health Care in the Department of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas.
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Abstract

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As every physician knows, “do no harm” is a basic tenet of medical ethics. Ironically, however, the increasingly powerful science used in patient care may undermine adherence to this tenet. In particular, science now enables the physician to identify “partial patients”—as Greaves defines them—by diagnosing disease or risk factors for disease before physical symptoms occur. But simply by identifying such partial patients, the physician may unwittingly inflict emotional harm on them. “Do no harm” requires the physician to anticipate and minimize such harms.

Type
SPECIAL SECTION: TERRA INCOGNITA: UNCHARTED TERRAIN BETWEEN DOCTORS AND PATIENTS
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press