nonabandonment

nonabandonment

(non?a-ban'dun-ment) The ethical obligation of a health care provider to remain in a continuous caring partnership with his or her patient. This partnership remains in place during periods of health and illness and is particularly important when the patient has a chronic or life-threatening disease. Several aspects of modern medical care, in which the patient's choice of physician may be limited and disrupt the continuity of the physician-patient relationship, make carrying out this obligation difficult. See: abandonment