Ms. Hagopian's surgeon, Dr. Peter Cordeiro, chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, advocates using implants before radiation, though many other doctors shy away from the procedure.

Dr. Julie L. Gerberding of San Francisco General Hospital was among AIDS experts who said that many doctors shied away from using the Murex test because the blue color can be difficult to see.

Some doctors shy away from giving narcotic painkillers to babies because debate remains about the possible addictive properties.

THRs are an effective means of treatment in the geriatric population; however, doctors shy away from using them in younger patients due to the reasons above.

The chairman of the pediatrics department at Stony Brook University Hospital, Dr. Richard N. Fine, said many doctors shied away from treating disabled people.

Women are often reluctant to volunteer to doctors that they are victims of domestic abuse, and doctors shy away from the subject.

Facing skyrocketing prices, some doctors have been shying away from risky procedures and, in some cases, even given up their practices.

Although hormones known as estrogens and progesterones can relieve hot flashes, many doctors shy away from prescribing them for women with breast cancer because of concerns that hormones may stimulate the growth of malignant tumors.

But Ms. Grey Eagle said that because of social stigmas doctors on the reservation shied away from confronting mothers who drink during pregnancy.

Even in states like New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Montana, that do not have laws regulating such things as the air flow in offices of doctors who offer abortions, some doctors may shy away from the likely social controversy.