Abstract
This review article is based on concepts of medical ethics related to the day-to-day practice of surgery. Over the last two decades, with the development of advanced surgical methods, robotic surgeries, or telesurgeries, etc. there is increased reporting of associated ethical issues as well. Nevertheless, the ethical issues encountered by surgeons are reasonably different and critical when compared to what physicians face during their practice. There are extensive deontology literatures available for physicians while the same is not available sufficiently for surgeons. In this review, we have discussed the common queries asked by practicing surgeons who had faced medico-legal litigation and had come to us for consultation. This discussion is made in the light of comparison with ethical issued faced by practicing physicians. In the practice of medicine just fulfilling the basic ethical requirements, e.g. autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, is often sufficient. However, for surgical practice the ethical requirement is beyond the level of such basic deontological requirements. Hence, in this paper we have tried to search and discuss all deontological dimensions of surgical practice, e.g. Normative ethics: concerned with a moral course of action for a surgical practice, Meta-ethics: concerning determining the truth and reference of moral values, and the Applied ethics: concerning what a person is obligated to do in a specific situation or a particular domain of action. Hopefully, these will be useful to guide the surgeons' behaviours in particular circumstances encountered during their surgical practice.
Highlights
In common surgical practice, a surgeon has the ethical responsibility to look after the disease proper, and the patient’s overall wellbeing and often that of the anaesthetist as well
Subsequent to some surgical complications the litigations usually brought against the surgeons first instead of the anaesthetist
To guide the surgeons’ behaviors and define the surgeon’s proper role, the four widely known ethical principles the value for the autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice can be applied in particular circumstances
Summary
A surgeon has the ethical responsibility to look after the disease proper, and the patient’s overall wellbeing and often that of the anaesthetist as well. I think I have acted reasonably, isn‟t it?”. Corresponding Author: Kusa Kumar Shaha, Additional Professor& H0D, Department of Forensic Medicine, JIPMER, Pondicherry, India. These are some frequently encountered lines from surgeons facing litigations and seek assistance from the Department of Forensic Medicine for medico-legal consultation. These lines reflect the ethical dilemma and the deontological concept showed by an average surgeon. The principles of ethics are neither hierarchically ordered nor invariably binding
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