Home birth: what are physicians' ethical obligations when patient choices may carry increased risk?

Abstract

Patient choices and plans may sometimes carry increased risk or include alternatives that individual physicians feel uncomfortable supporting or recommending. We consider in this commentary how the ethical principles of respect for autonomy and nonmaleficence can be balanced using, among other examples, the choice by some for a home birth. We discuss how absolute rather than relative risk should guide individuals' evaluation of patient choices, and how in some circumstances the value and safety added by a physician's participation may outweigh a potentially small increment in absolute risk that a particular patient choice carries.