Expedited partner therapy for scabies: legal and ethical considerations.

Dr Itch is evaluating a young man named Sam who has pruritic papules on his hands and genitals. A mineral oil preparation confirms scabies. Dr Itch recommends treatment with permethrin cream. Sam reveals that he lives with his girlfriend and brother, both of whom have developed symptoms suggestive of scabies. Neither Sam’s girlfriend nor his brother is a patient of Dr Itch. In fact, Sam confides, neither has a primary care physician or health insurance.