Can you take care of my mother? Reflections on cultural competency and clinical accommodation.

C ultural competency is a term that has become ubiquitous within medical education. It has been placed within the core competency of professionalism, and cross-cultural communication skills have been identified as one of the ways to address healthcare disparities among cultural and ethnic groups. This case highlights the need for cultural competency and places the argument within an ethical paradigm. When are we obliged to accommodate patient requests, and how do we negotiate between the values systems of medicine and that of our patient?