Ghost surgery refers to a range of misconduct in the performance of surgery.
Original scope of ghost surgery:
(1) surgery performed by a surgeon other than the surgeon responsible for the case (with rare exceptions)
(2) no record of the surgeon who performed the surgery in the medical record
(3) the surgeon responsible for the case bills for the procedure
(4) no attempt to inform the patient about the change
Expanded scope:
(1) having a resident perform all or a significant portion of the surgery
(2) performing multiple surgeries at the same time
(3) allowing a nonphysician to perform a procedure
(4) the surgeon of record not even being in the operating room
Ethical problems may include:
(1) dishonesty in the communication with the patient (bait and switch)
(2) improper informed consent
(3) fraudulent billing
(4) surgery performed by an unlicensed person
(5) surgery performed by a person without privileges at the facility
(6) falsifications of the medical record
