Discussion 4
Ethical violation is a big concern in the medical profession. An article published by Daily Mail in December 2013 revealed unbelievable, rather disturbing news. The news was about a surgeon in Birmingham who was accused of a serious ethical violation. He was suspended following one of his colleague finding the surgeon's initials inscribed and branded on one of the patient's liver.
The suspected person, Simon Bramhall, was working as a consultant surgeon at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The investigation started as one of his colleagues found Simon Bramhall’s initials on an internal organ of a patient, during a repeat surgery on the patient. The letters ‘S B’ was clearly seen in the organ. His colleague said that most probably Dr. Bramhall might have used argon gas to mark the letters on the patient’s organ. Argon is commonly used during surgeries to seal blood vessels to check bleeding. (Williams, 2013)
The most disturbing fact after analyzing this news is that none of the colleagues who took part in the surgery objected the heinous ethical violation; neither did they report it to the authorities. If I were one of the assistants in the theatre, I would have intimated the authorities about the serious ethical violation. Dr. Bramhall has led hundreds of liver transplant surgeries so far. The case is a good example of an ethical violation, as most of the ethical violation happen due to medical neglect, lack of knowledge or due to wrong diagnosis and subsequent treatment. (Williams, 2013)
The first level of decision making is to define the issue, which is very clear in this case. After this, we need to check alternatives. However, in this case, bringing the person to a trial is the only option. After this step, there should be an evaluation of alternatives. The successive step is the most important one, which is the decision making itself. After this step, come the final steps which are the implementation of the decision and getting the feedback. (Kartha, 2016)
The doctor was suspended and later removed from service. The hospital authorities and the local administration made a positive gesture, by doing this. I strongly agree with the decision.
Works Cited
Williams, Amanda. "Top Surgeon Suspended over Claims He 'seared His Initials on Transplant
Patient's LIVER'" Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 2013. Web. 05 Apr. 2016. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2528813/Top-surgeon-suspended-claims-seared-initials-transplant-patients-LIVER.html>.
Kartha, Deepa. "6 Steps to Decision-making Process." Buzzle. Buzzle.com, 29 Jan. 2016. Web.
<http://www.buzzle.com/articles/6-steps-to-decision-making-process.html>.
