A surgeon or an executioner?

Following on from the post on organ donation, Grey's Anatomy recently aired a 3-episode series focusing on organ donation.

A young 16-year old boy requires a liver and small bowel transplantation, desperately.

A heavily guarded death row patient comes into the hospital following a home-made knife (a sharpened toothbrush) inserted into his spine. He denies any life-saving operation as he is due to be executed next week for slitting 5 women's throat 'for fun'. Dr Shepherd, the neurosurgeon refuses to comply with his wishes, as he does not want to allow the patient to 'cheat the system'. He waits for the patient to become unconscious and takes him to theatre to be operated on.

Post-surgery, the death row patient finds out that the young boy requires a transplant and offers his own.

'Let me save a life before I go'

However, protocol does not permit it, despite him being a perfect match for the young boy.

Meanwhile, time is running out for the young boy.

The death row patient suffers a self-inflicted post-operative complication and is rushed back to theatre. In desperation, Dr Bailey, the surgeon looking after the young boy, rushes into theatre to request that Dr Shepherd stops the operation.

'This man is trying to kill himself. God forgive me, I need you to let him.'

Dr Shepherd puts down his scalpel and asks Dr Bailey.

'It's your call. Am I an executioner or a surgeon?'

If one believes in utilitarianism, where the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome, simply put, the end justify the means, it seems the right decision to do. The man wants to die. If he does, his organs can be put to good use to save a young boy's life. The man is going to be executed in 5 days regardless, and his organs will be wasted, so to speak.

Watching the series, I can understand the emotional turmoil going on in Dr Bailey's mind. It's a difficult situation to be in, complicated by her being emotionally-involved with her young patient. As doctors, we are often told not to become too emotionally-involved with our patients as it can cloud your clinical judgement, as in this case. Dr Bailey crossed a line by asking another surgeon to intentionally withhold treatment for his patient, in order to save her own patient.

I will not reveal how the series ended. Watch it yourself to find out.

The above scenario explains why I enjoy watching Grey's Anatomy. It's very melodramatic due to the complex ethical surgical problems that occurs on the series. Granted I am not a surgeon, but with each problem, I can visualise how it can happen in my own medical world and sort-of gives me a simulated training on how I would handle such scenarios in the future.

Who says you can't learn from the tv? :P