I overheard a fellow student talking to our clinical instructor about whether or not a certain patient had ever taken his meds. (He is notorious for refusing them.) When our instructor asked about it, the student told her that he had refused them again at lunchtime, but that she went ahead and put them in his pudding and fed them to him with his lunch. My instructor seemed pleased with her response, but it seemed unethical to me. It is very frustrating when patients continuously refuse their medications, as they certainly feel better when they stay on schedule, but isn't it ultimately the patient's right to refuse them without having to worry about someone "sneaking" them into their food?