title: Doctors' duty to disclose error: a deontological or Kantian ethical analysis.
abstract: Medical (surgical) error is being talked about more openly and besides being the subject of retrospective reviews, is now the subject of prospective research. Disclosure of error has been a difficult issue because of fear of embarrassment for doctors in the eyes of their peers, and fear of punitive action by patients, consisting of medicolegal action and/or complaints to doctors' governing bodies. This paper examines physicians' and surgeons' duty to disclose error, from an ethical standpoint; specifically by applying the moral philosophical theory espoused by Immanuel Kant (ie. deontology). The purpose of this discourse is to apply moral philosophical analysis to a delicate but important issue which will be a matter all physicians and surgeons will have to confront, probably numerous times, in their professional careers.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D026688:Bioethical Issues; D026689:Ethical Analysis; D028663:Ethical Theory; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000145:classification / Q000941:ethics*; D028681:Moral Obligations; D010684:Philosophy; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000941:ethics*; D014342:Truth Disclosure / Q000941:ethics*