Ethics
General Surgery · Topic 8
Source: NMC CBME Curriculum 2024 · Volume III · General Surgery · Topic 8 · combined PDF page 404
Practice questions
- A surgical team is deciding whether to offer a technically feasible intervention with uncertain benefit and substantial potential burden. Which approach best reflects the ethical framework described in the literature?
- A team performs a deliberately incomplete resuscitation while telling a family that full advanced cardiac life support is being provided. Which ethical concern most directly characterises this practice?
- A family requests CPR for a patient whom the treating team considers unlikely to benefit. Which response is most consistent with the ethical concerns raised in the slow-code review?
- Which statement best captures the ethical problem with a slow code when a patient or family requests full resuscitation?
- The clinical team believes CPR would be futile, while a family requests full resuscitation. Which conclusion is supported by the systematic review of slow-code ethics?
- A family appears to misunderstand what CPR involves and believes it guarantees recovery. In a difficult discussion about resuscitation, which approach best addresses the concern identified in the literature?
- A patient in a surgical intensive care setting has an uncertain prognosis, and a treatment may achieve a meaningful goal but also impose substantial burdens. Which strategy is specifically included in the operational ethics framework?
- During a rapidly evolving postoperative critical-care course, a decision to escalate or limit treatment is imminent. Which practical measure is proposed to embed ethical reflection into routine clinical work?
- A patient's condition and likely response to treatment have changed since the initial surgical ICU plan was made. Which action best reflects operational ethics?
- A complex postoperative critical-care decision involves the surgeon, intensivist, nurses, and family, but discussion has been confined to one clinician's view. Which change best aligns with the operational ethics framework?
- A surgical ICU team reports persistent moral distress while managing difficult treatment-limitation decisions. Which response is consistent with the operational ethics review?
- A surgical team is considering a sophisticated device-based intervention because it is available, although its expected benefit for this patient's goals is unclear. Which ethical response is best?
- A proposed intervention has possible clinical benefit, but its risks, long-term safety, and equitable accessibility are uncertain. Which ethical framing is most appropriate?
- A research ethics committee's written opinion approves a surgical study but gives little explanation of its consent and risk–benefit assessment. Which aspect of opinion quality is most clearly deficient?
- A committee reviews a surgical research protocol in which the consent process and risk–benefit justification are weakly developed. Which areas should receive particular attention?
- Which combination best represents the three dimensions proposed for producing a high-quality research ethics opinion?
- A committee faces a novel ethical issue in a surgical study for which no checklist gives a clear answer. Which approach best fits the review's account of ethical judgment?
- A hospital plans to use a deceased burn patient's graphic photographs in a public awareness campaign. The patient left no documented instruction about posthumous use. Which consideration is most ethically relevant?
- A research group proposes adding deceased burn patients' photographs and records to an AI training dataset. Which conclusion best fits the available review?
- A teaching presentation displays graphic burn images from a deceased patient. The images may allow viewers to identify the patient. Which concern is most directly raised by the posthumous data review?
- A deceased patient's burn images were obtained for clinical documentation. A clinician now proposes posting them on social media for general education. Which reasoning is best supported?
- A surgical service is developing a policy for educational and research use of patient images after death. Which policy position is most consistent with the review's findings?
- A committee reviewing a surgical research study is satisfied that the anticipated benefit is plausible but has not examined the risks in relation to that benefit. Which ethical review element remains incomplete?
- A patient-centred surgical decision is being made amid uncertainty and disagreement among clinicians. Which feature most clearly distinguishes operational ethics from a one-time abstract discussion?
- An ethics committee member suggests that all protocols should be judged solely by a fixed scoring algorithm to ensure consistency. Which response best reflects the review of research ethics opinions?
- A surgeon explains a recommended intervention but presents only its potential benefit, despite substantial uncertainty and possible harm. Which ethical improvement is most important?
- A team is moving from therapeutic escalation to possible treatment limitation and comfort-focused care. Which action best reflects the operational ethics approach to such transitions?
- A hospital's policy treats CPR as the automatic default and clinicians feel unable to discuss concerns about nonbeneficial resuscitation. According to the slow-code review, what may this situation contribute to?
- A proposed public education campaign uses burn photographs that could be recognised by people familiar with the deceased patient. Which issue should be explicitly considered before dissemination?
- Which statement best distinguishes a transparent limitation of CPR from a slow code?
- A research ethics committee issues a brief decision without explaining how its members considered competing arguments. Which dimension of quality is most directly weakened?
- A surgical critical-care team is uncertain whether continuing an intervention remains aligned with the patient's goals. Which set of considerations is most consistent with operational ethics?