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About this Activity
“You can save a life — but at what personal cost?”
Modern medicine is full of awe-inspiring breakthroughs. But behind every high-stakes intervention — whether in transplant surgery, intensive care, emergency medicine, or paediatrics — are the clinicians making impossible choices in impossible circumstances.
In this emotionally resonant and panel-driven session, Dr Heidi Matisonn, Senior Lecturer in Bioethics at the UCT EthicsLab, moderates a dynamic and honest discussion with leading voices across specialities.
Together, they explore moral injury: the deep psychological and ethical dissonance experienced when clinicians feel compelled to act in ways that violate their personal or professional code.
It’s not burnout. It’s not fatigue. It’s something more insidious — the quiet erosion of moral clarity in systems marked by scarcity, inequity, and complexity.
Through real-world stories and case reflections, this innovative forum unpacks the ethical tensions at the heart of modern healthcare — from transplant decisions and ICU triage to systemic failures, fractured communication, and what it means to carry moral responsibility: to make impossible choices under pressure, to act within flawed systems, and to live with the emotional aftermath of decisions that save some lives while letting others go.
A must-attend for any clinician navigating the grey zones of care.
Presented as part of Organ Donor Awareness Month.
What We Will Cover
We speak with leading voices in surgery, ethics, paediatrics, intensive care, and psychosocial care to uncover:
The ethical grey zones:
• How do clinicians reconcile choosing one patient over another when both need life-saving intervention?
• What does it mean to uphold “first, not harm” in situations where every option carries significant risk or uncertain outcomes?
Systemic limitations, personal toll:
• What happens when you know the ethically right course of action — but the system won’t allow it?
• How do under-resourced public hospitals and structural inequities shape clinical decisions, and who carries that weight?
The unspoken emotional labour:
• From ICU nurses and paediatricians to transplant coordinators and trauma surgeons — who supports the supporters?
• Why are moral injuries so often buried beneath professional stoicism and institutional silence?
Healing and resilience:
• Can we create open, protected spaces for clinicians to speak honestly about moral distress — without stigma or fear?
• What role do mentorship, peer debriefing, and ethics consultations play in helping healthcare teams process harm and rebuild moral clarity?
Your Moderator
Dr Heidi Mattisonn
Senior Lecturer in Bioethics in the EthicsLab, University of Cape Town
Your Panelists
Professor David Thomson
Consultant Transplant and Critical Care Surgeon at University of Cape Town, Groote Schuur Hospital
Dr Tinus du Toit
Head of Abdominal Transplantation, Groote Schuur Hospital
Dr Zunaid Barday
Nephrologist, Groote Schuur Hospital
Dr Marisa Beretta
Paediatric Hepatologist at Wits University Donald Gordon Medical Centre
Your Host
Linda Ravenhill
Editor, Medical Education Network
About Your CPD Accreditation
This activity review is accredited for 1 Level 1 Ethics point on completion of at least 90% of this webinar.
HPCSA-registered healthcare professionals
On completion of both activities, HPCSA-registered healthcare professionals will receive 1 Level 1 Ethics CPD point.
The Medical Education Network will submit a record of your completed activities to the HPCSA at the end of each month. You will receive a notification email from us informing you that this has been done.
Non-HPCSA-registered healthcare professionals.
If you are a non-HPCSA-registered healthcare professional, this activity may contribute to your accreditation requirements. Please keep a record of your certificate obtained on passing this questionnaire for submission to your respective Registration Council. For more details on the number of points you will be awarded, please contact your Council directly.
About the Medical Education Network
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