Ethical and legal medicine aspects related to hepatic encephalopathy

Abstract

The study initiates a thematic debate in which we associate a series of ethical and legal considerations on hepatoportal encephalopathy frequently encountered in both theory and especially in medical practice. We used as a model for ethical and legal dilemmas assessment a real-life case of a relatively young doctor diagnosed with chronic hepatitis virus C infection, non-responder to antiviral therapy who later progressed to liver cirrhosis and minimal HE. Having in mind background information, beyond the usual medical debates, we propose for discussion following legitimate ethical dilemma: To what extent is HE involving ethical and legal medicine issues? What are the ethical, moral, ethical and legal issues involved?