Non-compliance with medical ethics in advertising: impacts on civil liability

Abstract

This article reflects on medical obligation due to the violation of the ethical rules of advertising in medicine, especially when published on social media. Using the deductive method, the legal nature of a professional’s obligation will be discussed, which, as a rule, is an obligation of means. However,
the discussion arises when the content of the advertising message and how it is conveyed make it possible to transform this obligation into an obligation of result, thus changing the legal nature of the physician’s essence. To enable the debate, based on a literature review, this article exposes the possibility of the professional being civilly responsible for ethical violations related to medical advertising and the impairment of informed consent, that is, if the physician induces results, that he is liable for not achieving the proposed outcome.