Ethical decision making by British general practitioners

General practitioners in England and Wales were sent a questionnaire asking how they would handle the ethical problems posed by six case vignettes and their reasons for their decisions. The ethical problems included: how much information to divulge to patients, how extensively a physician should become involved in the lifestyles of patients and how to deal with a possible family problem. The varying patterns of response to the six cases suggested that ethical issues are resolved in a case-by-case, not a theoretical, basis.