Chapter 7 - Ethics of ultrasonography

Summary

The principle of autonomy recognizes that it is the voluntary decision of the patient to authorize or refuse clinical management based on adequate and complete disclosure by the physician about the patient's condition and management with the understanding of this information by the patient. If the patient refuses the ultrasound examination due to the fears of its harmful effects, the physician must clarify the facts to the patient, support her, and illuminate her fears. During obstetric ultrasound scanning and in occasional circumstances where the unborn child may suffer from a condition that needs a treatment and this treatment threatens the mother's life, there must not be any obligation upon her to tolerate this treatment. All fetal treatment necessitates accessing the fetus through the pregnant woman's body, and nonsurgical treatments have long been a part of pregnancy care. Ethics as a subdiscipline of ultrasound examination and intervention has significant clinical implications.