Ethical Issues to be Considered for the Neurosurgeons During the COVID-19 Pandemic

What is it about?

We read many articles about the neurosurgeons’ experience during the covid-19 pandemic with a great interest, and we were interested in their handling of a topic of a rising importance for neurosurgeons during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Reading Finn et al [1] discussion about the medico-legal considerations about neurosurgeons’ practice in response to COVID-19, and the challenges experienced with using personal protective equipment (PPE) encouraged us to dig deeper in the ethical consideration for neurosurgical practice during COVID-19 pandemic.

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Photo by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash

Photo by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Expert neurosurgeons are needed to develop consensus recommendations for management of both elective and non-elective cases based on their functionality, expected prognosis, window of opportunity available for appropriate management before rescuing their nervous tissue, comorbidities, and available human and non-human resources. Implementation of such an approach would save patients with ischemic cerebrovascular stroke coming in window of thrombectomy from long-term disability, save patients with refractory epilepsy from the deleterious complications of seizures and status epilepticus, prevent acute complications of hydrocephalus and optimize the outcome of non-traumatic hemorrhage such as ruptured aneurysms or vascular malformations.

Perspectives