Ethical and Social Aspects in Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery

Corno, Antonio F ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4374-0992 (2025) Ethical and Social Aspects in Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery. Ethics International Press. ISBN 9781804417676

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Abstract

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.