Law, Tests, and Posters

After taking Spirituality in Medicine and Literature in Medicine, I jumped at the newly-opened chance to take something a little more hard-core: Law and Medicine. We're learning all about the role of the expert witness, which is how doctors (who aren't being sued) see the inside of courts most often.

Also, today I took the first Cardio exam! It went well.

Afterwards, I picked up the printed poster I created for the upcoming CMA conference! I am very excited. Here's the abstract that goes with the poster:

Repair of Fallopian tubes (tuboplasty) was the standard of care for tubal disease before the advent of artificial reproductive techniques like in vitro fertilization (IVF). Tuboplasty is a morally acceptable treatment for women with tubal factor infertility. 

The recession and the upcoming compensation changes in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provide stimuli for mainstream medicine to prioritize what Catholic gynecologists know to be the ethically superior treatment. This year, the Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) edited their Opinion on tubal surgery: where they had recommended IVF as the preferred treatment option for any woman with tubal disease, they now recommend tubal recanalization techniques for treatment of several tubal disorders in young women with no other significant infertility factors. 

This presentation aims to review the research prompting the ASRM’s shift and the potential corresponding shift in medical practice. Surgical techniques reviewed include falloposcopy with a linear everting catheter, guidewire cannulation, coaxial cannulation, falloposcopic catheterization, selective salpingography, fluoroscopy, and hydrotubation. The best of these techniques have success rates similar to those of IVF and should be preferred for medical and economical reasons, if not moral ones. 

In conclusion, there are manifold opportunities to increase availability of IVF alternatives in mainstream gynecology, especially to young women who suffer from tubal factor infertility. At the same time, gynecologists have a chance to popularize ethically superior alternative treatments and raise discussions among their colleagues about other morally excellent practices.

(Like NFP.)