Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study how budgetary constraints can have ethical implications on patient treatment options. Design/methodology/approach By applying a qualitative methodological approach (interviews) and participant observation, this paper studies the behaviour of surgeons in scenarios of financial restriction. Findings The empirical findings show that despite the conflict between the economy and the leges artis, surgeons maintain the ethical and deontological principles of their profession with fair rules of orientation. Practical implications The importance of this study can be realised by its continuity. One of the authors is already implicated on a wider research to investigate the influence of the economic scarcity of resources on general surgeons’ ethical behaviours. Social implications This paper is a contribution to understanding the rules that restrain the activities of surgeons. Politicians sometimes do not have a full understanding of the pressures that the medical profession faces in their day-to-day activities. Currently, with the addition of problems relate to COVID-19, politicians and populations seem to better understand the importance of the Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS), This paper hopes that this understanding will be not only a conjectural moment. Originality/value In conjunction with the economic recession that began in the first decade of this century, health institutions have long faced budgetary constraints that condition their material and human resources and correspondingly shape the scope of health professional activities. Until now, it has not been studied the impact of economic crises on the ethical behaviour of Portuguese surgeons. Therefore, this research is a first step and a useful contribution to understanding the rules that can restrain (or not) the ethical conduct of these health professionals.
Highlights
Throughout the world, medical specialists focus on the issue of how the general economy affects their activities, in terms of the ethical implications and consequences that eventual budgetary constraints may have on their patient treatment options
HEALTH NATIONAL SERVICE AS AN INDUSTRY – 20 responses similar to the following: It behaves like an industry in a very subtle way, inasmuch as managers apply too many calculations and bills and forget that hospitals are not really industries [. . .] I think the voracity of making, between quotes, profitable hospitals, makes hospitals poor and [. . .] resources [. . .]
This research aimed to assess whether Portuguese general surgeons, guided by a code of ethics that represents itself as a pillar of their practice, maintain their best practices in the face of the economic restrictions to which they are subjected
Summary
Throughout the world, medical specialists focus on the issue of how the general economy affects their activities, in terms of the ethical implications and consequences that eventual budgetary constraints may have on their patient treatment options. European Journal of Management Studies Vol 26 No 1, 2021 pp. © Cristina Piedade Silva and Rita Martins de Sousa. Published in European Journal of Management Studies. The full terms of this licence maybe seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
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