Open AccessSkal rusmiddelavhengige pasienter tilbys hjerteklaffkirurgi for andre gang?
Author(s) -
Ingrid Miljeteig,
Steinar Skrede,
Jørund Langørgen,
Rune Haaverstad,
Ola Jøsendal,
Haakon Sjursen,
Ole Frithjof Norheim
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
tidsskrift for den norske lægeforening
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.162
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 0807-7096
pISSN - 0029-2001
DOI - 10.4045/tidsskr.12.0779
Subject(s) - psychology
Intravenous drug users (IVDUs) have an elevated risk of contracting infectious endocarditis. Most of them have good effect from medical treatment, but some will need valve replacement. Until a few years ago, our hospital withheld valve surgery if patients with intravenous drug dependency and infectious endocarditis came to need a second valve replacement. However, there are no consensus guidelines for treatment of this group of patients, and a dearth of data on the effects and benefits of interventions. Using a method of ethical analysis, we here discuss whether it is appropriate to offer valve surgery to drug users for a second time.