Clinical Ethics Consultations Regarding Patients with Opioid Use Disorders

Abstract

Patients with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) can pose particular challenges for physicians and the healthcare team. Guided by a typical case, this chapter considers the role that ethics consultants can play when called upon. Because OUD carries a significant social stigma, different models of addiction will be examined. Promoting understanding of the limited role that personal responsibility plays in addiction can facilitate more appropriate attitudes among the healthcare team. The author also concludes that the ethics consultant will likely need to make recommendations that are similar to other situations involving patients who are non-adherent to treatment recommendations. Physicians can best promote the patient’s well-being by partnering with the patient to develop a long-term treatment plan that either focuses on harm reduction or fosters abstinence.