{UAH} CAN THE DOCTOR REMOVE A BODY PART FROM ME TO SAVE MY LIFEWITHOUT TELLING ME?

CAN THE DOCTOR REMOVE A BODY PART FROM ME TO SAVE MY LIFE WITHOUT TELLING ME?

Kasirye was walking on Kampala road one day when he started feeling a bit dizzy. It got overwhelming that he decided to sit by the road. A few minutes later, people on the street saw him collapse and he lost consciousness. On being rushed to the hospital by a concerned boda boda man, the doctor, Dr KK examined him and found that he had a raptured spleen. For hours the hospital tried to get in touch with Kasirye's family or friends but in vain. Time was running out and so Dr KK decided that he would have to remove Karirye's spleen or otherwise he could die. Dr KK successfully removed Kasirye's raptured spleen and saved his life. Kasirye was told of the surgery and he is angry when he regained consciousness. He is particularly angry that his permission was not sought and he wants to sue Dr KK.

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?

The constitution of the Republic of Uganda provides for the right to privacy of a person. Additionally, the Code of professional Ethics for Medical and Dental practitioners provides for ethical obligations in which it states that a practitioner shall not violate the human rights of a patient, the patient's family or his or her caregiver. This means that all medical practitioners have a mandate to protect and preserve the human rights of their patients including the right to privacy.

HOW ABOUT IF VIOLATING THE HUMAN RIGHT WILL SAVE A LIFE?

As in our scenario above, Dr KK's actions saved Kasirye's life. It is worth noting that Uganda does not have a define law that protects medical practitioners from violating human rights to save their patients' lives. However, the Uganda Code of professional Ethics for Medical and Dental practitioners provides that a practitioner shall not conduct any intervention or treatment without consent except where an actual emergency requires it. Therefore, a medical practitioner should always endeavour to seek the consent from their patients before giving treatment or performing any surgery unless it is a real actual emergency to save life.

That said, Dr KK's actions were in line with the Uganda Code of professional Ethics for Medical and Dental practitioners. Kasirye's condition was a life threatening condition and therefore an actual emergency that if Kasirye's spleen had not been removed by Dr KK, he probably would have died.

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"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"

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