ACOG Committee Opinion No. 422: At-Risk Drinking and Illicit Drug Use: Ethical Issues in Obstetric and Gynecologic Practice

Drug and alcohol abuse is a major health problem for American women regardless of their socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and age. It is costly to individuals and to society. Obstetrician-gynecologists have an ethical obligation to learn and use a protocol for universal screening questions, brief intervention, and referral to treatment in order to provide patients and their families with medical care that is state-of-the-art, comprehensive, and effective. In this Committee Opinion, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Committee on Ethics proposes an ethical rationale for this protocol in both obstetric and gynecologic practice, offers a practical aid for incorporating such care, and provides guidelines for resolving common ethical dilemmas related to drug and alcohol use that arise in the clinical setting.