The amount of compensatory sweating depends on the patient, the damage that the white rami communicans incurs, and the amount of cell body reorganization in the spinal cord after surgery.
Other potential complications include inadequate resection of the ganglia, gustatory sweating, pneumothorax, cardiac dysfunction, post-operative pain, and finally Horner’s syndrome secondary to resection of the stellate ganglion.
www.ubcmj.com/pdf/ubcmj_2_1_2010_24-29.pdf

After severing the cervical sympathetic trunk, the cells of the cervical sympathetic ganglion undergo transneuronic degeneration
After severing the sympathetic trunk, the cells of its origin undergo complete disintegration within a year.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0442.1967.tb00255.x/abstract

Monday, February 16, 2009

Safety and Ethics in Healthcare

"...professionals may adopt unreasonable practices. Practices may develop in professions, particularly as to disclosure, not because they serve the interests of the clients, but because they protect the interests or convenience of members of the profession. The court has an obligation to scrutinize professional practices to ensure that they accord with the standard of reasonableness imposed by the law."
Incresingly, the question is not whether the defendant's conduct conforms with the practices of the profession, but whether it conforms with standards of reasonableness. (p. 150)

The right of patients self-determination is well entrenched both in law and in ethical codes. Respect for patient autonomy now occupies centre stage in medical ethics. In considerin patient autonomy one needs to think about truth telling, confidentiality, privacy, disclosure of information and consent. Each is important and all have important implications for healthcare professionals. (p. 167)

Safety and Ethics in Healthcare: A Guide to Getting it Right
By Bill Runciman, Alan Merry
Published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007
ISBN 0754644375, 9780754644378