Resumen

GUZMAN MEJIA, José Ignacio. In the face of surgical malpractice, ethical or legal transcendence?. Cir. gen [online]. 2018, vol.40, n.1, pp.46-53. ISSN 1405-0099.

The medical act is defined as the set of actions that the user of health services receives with the purpose of restoring his or her health (Article 32 of the General Health Law). When the obligations of means and/or safety for the patient are not met and medical error can be proven, we say that there is medical malpractice. In Medicine we point out the existence of malpractice to indicate a mismanagement by action or omission when administering a medicine or performing a procedure that causes damage to the body or health of the human person, whether partial or total, limited in time or permanent, resulting from an act of imprudence, negligence, incompetence or recklessness. It is necessary to clarify that due to the biological variability of the patient and in spite of having acted in accordance with the medical Lex artis, the expected result is not always obtained or the patient’s expectations are not met. This poses various problems for the right to be resolved in relation to how to ensure equity in the results of the medical act in the face of the fracture of the doctor-patient relationship resulting from dissatisfaction with the failure to obtain the expected results. That is why any medical act - especially in the presence of mala praxis - has important ethical, deontological and legal consequences for the medical professional.

Palabras llave : Lex artis; malpractice; transcendence; ethics; professional responsibility.

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