EthicsAdvancedMMI station
One liver, two patients: a 60-year-old surgeon who drinks, and a 25-year-old who overdosed. Who gets it?
Ethical dilemma: Competing duties with no perfect answer: consent, confidentiality, fairness.
Say it out loud
Confetto's AI interviewer asks you this question, follows up like a real interviewer and gives feedback on your answer.
Practice this question now7-day free trial
Sample answer outline
- Say who really decides: transplant teams follow set criteria, not one doctor's judgment of who deserves it.
- Name those criteria: medical urgency, likelihood of benefit, compatibility, time on the list, and the ability to follow through after transplant.
- Reject social worth: being a surgeon doesn't earn a liver. Be careful about blaming either patient for their illness.
- Note that an overdose, such as acetaminophen, can cause acute liver failure with top urgency, while alcohol use may raise questions about relapse.
- Conclude that you'd follow the criteria and support both patients.
What makes it work
- It moves the question from "who deserves it" to "how fair systems decide".
Avoid
- Choosing by age or profession alone.
How to approach ethical dilemma questions
- Clarify the facts and what you would want to know before acting.
- Name who is affected and the principles in tension: autonomy, doing good, avoiding harm, fairness, confidentiality.
- Walk through realistic options, starting with the least drastic.
- Choose a course of action, explain why, and say who you would involve.
What it tests
Related questions
- A patient with Down syndrome is pregnant and wants to keep the baby. Her mother and husband want her to have an abortion. What do you do?Sample answer
- A deaf couple doing IVF asks you to help them pick an embryo that will also be deaf. What do you do?Sample answer
- A convicted child molester comes to your ER needing emergency surgery. Do you treat him the same as everyone else?Sample answer
- A patient asks you to amputate their perfectly healthy leg because it "doesn't feel like theirs." Do you?Sample answer
- A pharmacist has a personal objection to dispensing a legal medication. How should that be handled so the patient still gets care?Sample answer
- Before a shift, you notice your senior resident smells of alcohol. What do you do?Sample answer
Say it out loud
Confetto's AI interviewer asks you this question, follows up like a real interviewer and gives feedback on your answer.
Practice this question now7-day free trial