ABSTRACT
This chapter incorporates references to English common and statute law. Nevertheless, these legal and ethical principles have much in common with many other jurisdictions across the world. Surgery, ethics and law go hand in hand. In any other arena of public or private life, if someone deliberately cuts another person, draws blood, causes pain, leaves scars and disrupts everyday activity, then the likely result will be a criminal charge. If the person dies as a result, the charge could be manslaughter or even murder. Self evidently, the difference between the criminal and the surgeon is that their intentions differ. While a criminal intentionally (or recklessly) inflicts harm, the surgeon’s intention is limited to the treatment of illness. Any harm that ensues is either unintentional, or is necessary (such as an incision), to facilitate treatment.
