Case Study
Managing an adolescent with Type 1 Diabetes and socioeconomic deprivation in a remote primary care setting — Ethical challenges
This case study discusses the ethical challenges encountered by a primary care team in managing a 17-year-old girl with Type 1 diabetes in a socio-economically deprived tribal area. The case highlights critical issues such as justice in access to essential medicines, ethical dilemmas arising from complex family dynamics, and systemic failures within the public health system. By examining these challenges, this case study underscores the importance of addressing broader social determinants of health to ensure just and effective healthcare delivery in rural and tribal settings.
Copyright and license ©Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 2024: Open Access and Distributed under the Creative Commons license ( CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits only non-commercial and non-modified sharing in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
Thanks for sharing- have seen similar cases from Bihar and Surguja dist. The one from Bihar had to be referred to JSS several hundred km away from hometown due to severity of illness due to delayed diagnosis, wrong treatment and family constraints. Likewise the case from Surguja was also referred to JSS, Ganiari. It is an added workload to the hospital as well that has its own exhaustive list of complex cases from local area. Rural health is not only about cold, cough, and diarrhoea. Diseases are more and get more complex because of so many factors impacting recognition, diagnosis, treatment and post care. Community including school age penetration are crucial. Bringing rational and affordable care closer to every home of the country is simply being human.