Bioethics in the field of pediatric surgery

Abstract

It is the professional responsibility of pediatric surgeons to follow the principles of maintaining life and alleviating suffering, often by questioning whether they have acted correctly. Apart from the moral dilemmas of choosing the best treatment strategies, they are often in dilemmas with the parents, who also involve their own “strategy” in the whole story, which they think is the most optimal treatment for their child, despite the contrary recommendations of the profession. Children, and especially adolescents, may be somewhat involved in medical decision making. Mostly the parent-physician-child / adolescent triangle agrees, but this is not always the case, which is why pediatric surgeons encounter problems. Ethical committees, composed of competent people, supported by the legal system of the state, who are able by consensus of team members to advocate and ensure the best interests of patients, must be activated for the full scope of the solution.