The surgeon situation happens to lots of professionals who have other people's lives or secrets in their hands.

I know a social worker who is gay and works with gay men. It's a small community, and in some cases he's been at a club and seen friends go home with clients who he knows are HIV positive. Even though he knows his friends are about to risk their lives, he can't say anything that reveals the client's HIV status. Because if people believed professionals were breaking the code of confidentiality, even to save lives, they wouldn't get tested for HIV in the first place.

A good code of ethics, professional or otherwise, takes that kind of long view.