showing 8 related works from this author
A return to humane medicine: Osler's legacy.
2017
Sir William Osler is celebrated today not only for his contributions to the advancement of medical education, but also for the humanism he brought to the practice of medicine. He was a doctor whose bedside skills and manners were emulated, and can legitimately be called an infectious diseases specialist. Nonetheless, he was also a humanist in the broader sense of the term, a student of human affairs and human nature, who emphasised compassion for the individual. To what extent, if any, are today's challenges influenced by departures from the paradigms created by Osler? In this paper we sought to ascertain whether such a tradition is still relevant to current practice and may foster a new pe…
Letter to the Editor: Comment on “The Application of Artificial Intelligence for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Liver Diseases”
2021
among the forthcoming articles to be published in Hepatology, I noticed the extensive review by Ahn, Connell, Simonetto, Hughes & Shah concerning "The application of artificial intelligence for the diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases" [1]. As a bioethicist, I need to raise some concern about the perspective given by this review, which disregards some important issues concerning ethical aspects and patient-physician relationship.
Breaking bad news: How to cope.
2018
Physicians often are uncomfortable when communicating an unfavorable outcome: they feel inadequate in the face of uncontrollable disease and unprepared to manage the emotional reactions of patients. For lack of proper training, they often adopt inappropriate ways to disclose unfavorable information. We will outline some key points about the issue of disclosing bad news and aim to provide useful tools to physicians who have to cope frequently with breaking bad news to patients, providing examples and clinical sceneries specific to gastroenterology and hepatology practice.
Ethical aspects of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT).
2015
The importance of human microbiota in preserving human organism healthy is nowadays well acknowledged. The alteration of the microbiota can be the consequence of a persistent use of antibiotics or immunosuppressive medications or abdominal irradiation or surgery, wrong diet, or can be caused by surgery or anatomical condition. These alterations can cause many infections and diseases that today can be treated with Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT), also called Bacteriotherapy, that is the administration of a fecal solution from a donor into the intestinal tract of a recipient. Although to date, FMT appears to be safe and without serious adverse effects, there are some ethical issues tha…
Rationing in a Pandemic: Lessons from Italy.
2020
In late February and early March 2020, Italy became the European epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite increasingly stringent containment measures enforced by the government, the health system faced an enormous pressure, and extraordinary efforts were made in order to increase overall hospital beds’ availability and especially ICU capacity. Nevertheless, the hardest-hit hospitals in Northern Italy experienced a shortage of ICU beds and resources that led to hard allocating choices. At the beginning of March 2020, the Italian Society of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation, and Intensive Care (SIAARTI) issued recommendations aimed at supporting physicians in prioritizing patients when …
Factors Affecting Hesitancy to mRNA and Viral Vector COVID-19 Vaccines among College Students in Italy
2021
Vaccine hesitancy (VH) may be significant in jeopardizing efforts to mass containment of COVID-19. A cross-sectional survey was carried out on a sample of 2667 Italian college students, before the COVID-19 vaccines became available for this age group (from 7 May to 31 May 2021). An online survey was created to obtain information about socio-demographic, health-related, and psychological factors linked to mRNA and viral vector COVID-19 vaccines. Statistically significant higher VH (30.4%) and vaccine resistance (12.2%) rates were found for viral vector than mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (7.2% and 1.0%, respectively; p < 0.001). Factors related to viral vector VH were partially different from tho…
Who should get COVID-19 vaccine first? A survey to evaluate hospital workers’ opinion
2021
Prospective planning of COVID-19 vaccines allocation will be essential to maximize public health and societal benefits while preserving equity. Decisions about how to allocate limited supplies of vaccines need to be clear about the criteria used in setting priorities, with a specific commitment to transparency and communication. The aim of our study was to think through these competing demands, focusing on the opinion of healthcare workers (HCWs). The primary endpoint of the study was to assess the opinion of all the HCWs in a University based Italian Hospital about the fairest priority order to COVID 19 vaccines and to understand on which criteria the prioritization preferences of HCWs are…
Liver transplantation for severe alcoholic hepatitis: A multicenter Italian study
2022
There is increasing evidence that early liver transplantation (eLT), performed within standardized protocols can improve survival in severe alcoholic hepatitis (sAH). The aim of the study was to assess outcomes after eLT for sAH in four Italian LT centers and to compare them with non-responders to medical therapy excluded from eLT. Patients admitted for sAH (2013–2019), according to NIAAA criteria, were included. Patients not responding to medical therapy were placed on the waiting list for eLT after a strict selection. Histological features of explanted livers were evaluated. Posttransplant survival and alcohol relapse were evaluated. Ninety-three patients with severe AH were evaluated (65…