Joined by an expert panel of surgical colleagues, Emily Farkas moderates a session covering ethical questions for surgeons surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Ethics
April 16, 2020
A prepublication manuscript describing a balanced system for multidimensional decision making about timing of surgery in the COVID era.
April 13, 2020
Topical review on the epidemic in Britain, with a number of observations that relate to the cardiothoracic surgeons and all healthcare professionals:
-The assertion that the National Health Service in Britain was overrun PRIOR to the pandemic.
-The assertion that acute angina is now being undertreated.
April 1, 2020
Useful series from the Pacific North West, main questions:
-Why four patients who had a do-not-resuscitate order on admission were included in the dead and, ultimately, why been admitted in an ITU/ICU setting?
-How come no sputum samples from nine fatalities were ever sent for bacterial culture in an ITU/ICU setting?
March 25, 2020
A frank, eye opening discussion with specific recommendations about allocating scarce resources in a time of pandemic.
March 25, 2020
A thoughtful commentary about the need for a triage committee to determine the optimal allocation of ventilators in a time of competing needs, and how these determinations are best communicated to caregivers and families.
March 24, 2020
Drs Daniel Drake and Robert Sade, along with other members of the Cardiothoracic Ethics Forum and several nonmember experts, produced a paper on the ethical considerations for cardiothoracic surgeons in pandemics.
March 20, 2020
Interesting input from a Stanford expert on the hottest topic on the planet at the moment.
March 18, 2020
The authors describe a thoughtful process for resource utilization in the setting of competing needs that optimizes survival for a popultion. Examples of existing guidelines are provided.
March 18, 2020
The authors examined the SEER database to assess racial disparities in use of PET for lung cancer staging 2007-2015 and subsequent one-year survival. Blacks (OR 0.54) and Hispanics (OR 0.72) were less likely to undergo PET compared to non-Hispanic whites. Use of PET was associated with improved survival (HR 0.61).