Ethics in Surgery

American Journal of Otolaryngology, 2001

The Frontiers of Ancient Science. Papers in Honor of Heinrich von Staden, ed. by B. Holmes and K.D. Fischer (Berlin, W. De Gruyter), 47–66., 2015

This paper undertakes a comparison between three ancient medical codes (Greece, India, and China), and argues that the special relationship between doctor and patient seems to be responsible for a remarkable uniformity in the ethical rules that emerge to safeguard confidentiality and professional working method.

European Journal of Internal Medicine, 2009

Introduction: Swearing to a medical oath is a common practice in medical schools today. Students at the Medical School for International Health (MSIH) participate in an elaborate physician's oath ceremony held in the first year of studies. At this ceremony, students read a code of ethics written by their class, the content of which includes the ethical principles the class as a whole deems significant. Methods: 9 codes of ethics, written by students at the MSIH between 1998 and 2006, as well as the oaths of Hippocrates and Maimonides, were collected and the principles contained within them were analyzed and compared. The oaths were broken up into preamble, covenant, code, and peroration sections, each encompassing various content domains. Results: Principles discussed in both the oaths of Hippocrates and Maimonides, as well in two-thirds or more of the student-written codes, included loyalty to one's colleagues, the profession, and one's teachers, as well as acting with beneficence. Attributes including compassion, integrity, and honesty, were mentioned in two-thirds or more of the student-written codes but neither the oath of Hippocrates nor Maimonides. Controversial issues, such as abortion and discussing God were not included in codes written by students. Conclusions: Ethical codes written by students at the MSIH contained some similar principles to those contained within the traditional oaths; however, there was more emphasis on attributes that establish a good physicianpatient relationship in the codes written by students. Future studies need to examine the content of other student-written codes.

European Spine Journal, 2018

This is the second part of a paper on the relevance and significance of the Hippocratic Oath to modern medical ethical and moral values with the aim at answering questions on controversial issues related to the Oath. Part I argued that the general attributes and ethical values of the Oath are relevant to the modern world. Part II attempts to elucidate the interpretation of the specific injunctions of the Oath from today's perspective in relation to ethical values concerning the duties of physicians to patients and society. The objective is to prove that the Oath has established the general context of medical ethics of the physicianpatient relationship, which reflects longlasting moral values that still define the medical profession. The Oath has exemplified the fundamental modern ethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence and confidentiality. Its foremost message focuses on patients' best interests and not on the prohibition of surgery, euthanasia or abortion, as is generally believed. Furthermore, the Oath as a code of professional identity has had a powerful impact on modem judicial opinions regarding medical ethics. In a lot of ways it is as relevant of the values of contemporary medicine as it was for ancient medicine.

The Oath of Hippocrates is one of the most famous documents of Western medicine. It continues to be administered at graduation time in medical schools around the globe. Yet the values and meanings expressed in the Oath are closely linked to social and cultural conditions that prevailed in antiquity. This essay looks separately at the text’s components: oath, covenant, treatment limits, moral pledge, contacts with patients, and final reward, explaining their rationale and significance. Subjecting past ethical principles to historical scrutiny contributes to an understanding of their true significance while giving us the tools to better appreciate our own professional ethos.

Orthopedics Research and Traumatology – Open Journal

Revista do Colégio Brasileiro de Cirurgiões, 2020

South-East Asian Journal of Medical Education, 2018

This review article is based on concepts of medical ethics related to the day-today 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.

Academic Medicine, 2016

Current health system put different tasks on physicians. Alongside with this change, medical education also becomes more sophisticated and the humanistic features of medicine undermined. However, it should be pointed out that the professional commitment of a physician and his/her primary duty is caring for the patients. Although changes in the health care system have affected the physician’s roles, this primal commitment mentioned as the primary task of the medicine as a profession. Besides, nowadays, physicians, patients, and members of the society have come to believe that medicine and especially its physician-patient relationship component is under threat, and virtually all have concluded that any action to address the issue must include a major educational initiative. (R L. Cruess, S R. Cruess &Yvonne Steinert eds. Teaching Medical Professionalism. 2009, Cambridge University Press) On the other hand, usually duties and responsibilities show themselves in the form of national and...