Health Care

Refusal to Treat

Refusal of the health professional to initiate or continue treatment of a patient or group of patients. The refusal can be based on any reason. The concept is differentiated from PATIENT REFUSAL OF TREATMENT see TREATMENT REFUSAL which originates with the patient and not the health professional.

National Library of MedicineMedical Subject Headings2026

Structured Summary

Abstract

Refusal of the health professional to initiate or continue treatment of a patient or group of patients. The refusal can be based on any reason. The concept is differentiated from PATIENT REFUSAL OF TREATMENT see TREATMENT REFUSAL which originates with the patient and not the health professional.

MeSH Record

Classification

Broader headings

Narrower headings

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MeSH Record

See Also

MeSH Record

Synonyms

3 entry terms
  • Patient Abandonment
  • Physician Refusal to Treat
  • Abandonment, Patient

MeSH Record

Aspects Covered

3 allowable subheadings

Indexed with the subheadings ethics, legislation & jurisprudence, statistics & numerical data.

MeSH Record

Indexing Annotation

refusal of a health professional to treat a patient: do not confuse with PATIENT REFUSAL OF TREATMENT see TREATMENT REFUSAL

MeSH Record

History Note

91

MeSH Record

Previous Indexing

  • Attitude of Health Personnel (1968-1990)
  • Continuity of Patient Care (1975-1990)
  • Physician-Patient Relations (1966-1990)

MeSH Hierarchy

Tree Numbers

  1. N04w.590.233.727w.605
  2. N05.300w.100.675

AMA Style

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Refusal to Treat. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D016079. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D016079
  2. Refusal to Treat. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q70442066