REVIEW PAPER
Surgeon’s dilemma: should I save patient’s life at any cost?
1
Regional Hospital, Kielce, Poland
2
Clinical Department of General Oncology and Endocrinology Surgery, Provincial Polyclinic Hospital, Kielce, Poland
3
Department of Surgery and Surgical Nursing with the Scientific Research Laboratory, Institute of Medical Sciences,
Jan Kochanowski University, Kielce, Poland
Submission date: 2017-08-30
Final revision date: 2017-11-16
Acceptance date: 2017-11-27
Publication date: 2017-12-31
Medical Studies 2017;33(4):321-324
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Every doctor practicing treatment in the field of medicine may be confronted with a serious question: should I save my patient’s life at any cost? If a doctor resigns from emergency procedures, he/she will risk the patient’s death. However, if he/she decides to proceed regardless of a Jehovah’s Witness patient’s statement of will, in which he or she refuses transfusion, he/she takes a risk of illegal medical intervention. There is neither an easy answer, nor a serious solution, thus the only way is to choose the lesser of two evils. Notwithstanding legal issues, there are still ethical problems, which result in an internal dilemma for a doctor.
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