Medical Ethics and Professional Behavior Practice Questions
20 free Medical Ethics and Professional Behavior practice questions for the USMLE Step 1, each with the correct answer and a detailed explanation. Open any question below, or take the full set as an interactive quiz.
Questions
20 questions
All Medical Ethics and Professional Behavior questions
- Q1. A competent patient refuses a life-saving blood transfusion due to religious beliefs. What is the physician’s most appropriate action?
- Q2. A physician tells a patient that a procedure has no risks, even though minor risks exist. Which ethical principle is violated?
- Q3. A patient requests that the physician not disclose a cancer diagnosis to her family. What is the best response?
- Q4. A physician gives extra time and care to well-insured patients while rushing through visits with uninsured patients. Which ethical principle is violated?
- Q5. A physician withholds treatment options because she assumes the patient cannot afford them. What principle does this violate?
- Q6. A surgeon discloses a surgical error to the patient and explains the next steps for management. Which ethical principle is demonstrated?
- Q7. A patient threatens to harm a specific individual. What is the physician’s most appropriate action?
- Q8. A patient refuses chemotherapy but consents to pain management and supportive care. Which type of decision-making is demonstrated?
- Q9. A physician accepts an expensive gift from a pharmaceutical representative. Which principle is at risk?
- Q10. A patient lacks decision-making capacity. Which individual should guide medical decisions?
- Q11. A patient asks the physician to make all medical decisions because he feels overwhelmed. What is the physician’s best response?
- Q12. A physician discloses a patient’s HIV status to the patient’s employer without permission. What principle is violated?
- Q13. A patient demands antibiotics for a viral infection. The physician politely explains why they are not indicated. Which principle is demonstrated?
- Q14. A patient with terminal illness expresses a desire to stop all life-prolonging treatments. What should the physician do?
- Q15. A physician is concerned that a dementia patient is being financially exploited by a caregiver. What is the next best step?
- Q16. A patient with schizophrenia refuses antipsychotic medication but is not a danger to himself or others. What is the appropriate action?
- Q17. A physician unintentionally discloses a patient’s results to a visitor in the room without confirming the patient’s preferences. What was violated?
- Q18. A physician decides not to inform a patient about a poor prognosis because she thinks it will upset him. Which ethical error is occurring?
- Q19. A resident notices an attending physician consistently documenting procedures that were not performed. What is the most appropriate action?
- Q20. A patient insists on a treatment that the physician knows is ineffective and potentially harmful. What is the best response?