Deontological aspects of medicine, more specifically for the surgeon in a changing social environment

In this article the authors highlight a few ethical and deontological bottlenecks that currently exist in surgery. In particular, it concerns the poor application of patient's rights legislation so far by surgeons in the field, the need for fixed agreements in hospital departments and in hospitals, and the difficult exercise of handling patient information privacy. Furthermore the reduction in the number of candidate-specialists and subsequent consequences are considered. To guarantee the quality criteria within 'office-based medicine', structural solutions are presented. To conclude, the subject of publicity via internet sites is dealt with.