Balancing the Surgeon’s Responsibility to Individuals and Society
From the chapter in The SAGES Manual, Ethics of Surgical Innovation:
18. Balancing the Surgeon’s Responsibility to Individuals and Society
Cutting-edge and progressive physicians and surgeons innovate. Indeed, innovation may at times rise to the level of a moral obligation, one that springs from the doctor's ethical and legal responsibility to practice medicine and surgery competently. Ethical physicians must be competent practitioners, which means they must be alert to the ever-changing aspects of medicine and incorporate newer and better methods and technologies into patient care whenever appropriate. [...]