title: Great need, scarce resources, and choice: reflections on ethical issues following a medical mission.
abstract: Medical missions to provide cardiac surgical procedures in developing and technologically less advanced countries is a great challenge. It is also immensely gratifying, personally and professionally. Such missions typically present significant ethical dilemmas, especially making difficult choices, given limited time and resources, and the inability to help all children in need of cardiac surgery. We describe some of these issues from our perspective as visiting cardiologists.
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital Intensive Care Unit, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 USA. ravi.thiagarajan@childrens.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Ravi I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Thiagarajan
authors.affiliation: Medical University of South Carolina Children's Hospital, 169 Ashley Avenue, Charleston, SC 29425 USA.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Scheurer
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital, Cardia Intensive Care, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 USA.
authors.forename: Joshua W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Salvin
mesh_terms: D001900:Boston; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000941:ethics; D002309:Cardiology / Q000941:ethics* / Q000592:standards; D002648:Child; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000941:ethics; D003657:Decision Making / Q000941:ethics*; D005869:Ghana; D015276:Health Care Rationing / Q000941:ethics*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008493:Medical Missions / Q000941:ethics; D018579:Patient Selection / Q000941:ethics*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000628:therapy*