Ethical and Social Aspects in Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery

This book focuses on the ethical and social aspects related to pediatric and congenital heart surgery. The surgical procedures required for the repair of a congenital heart malformations are frequently seen as only a technical problem, limited to cut and stitch. On the contrary, there are endless aspects to take into consideration, from the communications with the child patient, unless he/she is a neonate or small infant, and his/her family; trust-building with the family; the ethical issues related to the choice of type and timing among the available surgical options in relationship to the needs of the patient and his/her family and their cultural and socioeconomic environment; the impact of the differences in culture, education, religion, socio-economic situation; the balance between risks and potential benefits in complex operations without any margin for error; the information to the patient and his/her family of the potential early and late complications, including death; the involvement of teamwork required for each procedure, with members of a large team not directly under control by the surgeon, with potential mistakes and/or omissions by any member of the team; the way of sharing bad results; and the support to the family in the case of poor outcomes. While a few books deal partly with some of these aspects, this is the first work entirely dedicated to address them all. This important and unique work draws on the author’s many years of experience in many different hospitals in different countries and continents. Key audiences include the very large number of families of children who underwent or need to undergo surgery for a congenital heart defect; all the caregivers and practitioners involved with the management of these patients; and all researchers and students dealing with the topic of heart malformations.