Grateful Patient Fundraising: Stories from Physicians
Grateful Patient Fundraising: Stories from Physicians
In this collection of narratives, authors describe their personal journey in thinking through and navigating their comfort or discomfort with grateful patient fundraising. Through “Grateful Patient” programs, U.S. medical institutions solicit financial gifts from patients and family members, often encouraging physicians to assist in this fundraising. Patients may be delighted to give back to the institutions that treated them. However, the practice can put pressure on patients, raise concerns about patient confidentiality and trust, and possibly increase a donor’s expectation to receive preferential treatment.
“Within these narratives, there is guidance on how to approach these complex issues from the bedside to system-wide practices. Physicians and institutions would do well to discuss the best approaches that have been developed to protect physicians’ overriding obligation to their patients.”