 Dr. Amy Maroux has been in practice about five years since graduating from dental school, first associating and then opening her own practice in a downtown area of the city. As is the case for many of her classmates, she's taken on a substantial bank loan to open the practice and to pay for essential equipment, her staff, and even painting her office. She also continues to make sizable monthly payments to cover her student loan. Despite this, Dr. Maroux is busy and is determined to make her practice profitable. Right now, she is in the middle of an appointment, placing veneers on her patient, Mr. McCoy, aware that she has a full schedule for the rest of the day. You doing okay? We shouldn't be too much longer. Dr. Maroux, I am so sorry to interrupt. Can it wait, Kirk? Mr. McCoy and I are a bit busy. I'm sorry. It is really urgent. I'm really sorry. I'm going to have to step out, but hopefully this will only take a minute. I'm terribly sorry to step in like that, but this guy had just come in. He's holding his jaw. He says he's in pain and he's adamant about seeing somebody right now. Good morning. What can I help you? Man, I don't have an appointment. I just need to see the dentist now. What's your name? Have you seen Dr. Maroux before? No, I just pulled in. I haven't. The first place I saw. Listen, if you've never been here before, you'll have to fill out our new patient paperwork, sir. Um, you've left out all your payment information. Do you have insurance? I've got 40 bucks on me and I get paid on Friday. Can I please just see the dentist? Look, she's with a patient right now and it's probably going to be a little while. Listen, there's a low-cost dental clinic just down the road a few blocks south of the Dunn Expressway. Maybe you could just take me. I was just there. They said they filled all their emergency appointments for today. I'm really hurting. Um, hang on a minute. I'll go talk with the doctor. I don't know. He seems kind of like a low life to me anyways. Okay, let me go speak with him. Hi, I- Are you the doctor? I'm in a bad way. This one tooth is killing me. I think you gotta get it out of there. What are the ethical and professional issues raised by this scenario? You may pause the video to consider this question. Consider these possible options for addressing this situation. You may pause the video after each possible solution to consider the implications of each option. Should Dr. Maru decline to provide care today because of their full schedule? Have Mr. McCoy wait and proceed to examine the emergency patient? Bring Mr. McCoy's procedure to a stable place and then reschedule him in order to provide care to the emergency patient? Explain to the man if he can wait, she will work him into her schedule as soon as she can. Suggest the man go to an ER or urgent care facility for immediate care today and then offer to schedule him on a different day. Suggest the patient taken over the counter analgesic, write a prescription for antibiotics, and offer to see him the next morning. Now let's look at potential contributing factors as you weigh what's important in your decision about an appropriate course of action. A duty to provide care for a person in pain. An obligation to address dental emergencies. The impact of limited finances on a patient's ability to receive care. A requirement to accept a patient into care even when they are unable to afford treatment. A management in a busy practice when an emergency patient presents needing care. An obligation to prioritize patients who already have appointments. Many dental practitioners face ethical dilemmas such as this one on any given day. Anticipating how you might deliberate to find a suitable resolution to any such dilemma is good preparation and can aid each practitioner to find appropriate solutions to the challenges they sometimes must face.