Psychosocial and ethical issues related to congenital heart disease: From the foetus to the adult - a tribute to the mothers of affected offspring

Abstract

This thesis describes work by a paediatric cardiologist/paediatrician. Being psychologically orientated he identified the distress of mothers whose infants had cardiac surgery. Children were relatively unscathed by such surgery. Infants with less optimal results correlated with maternal distress rather than the severity of the cardiac abnormality. Prenatal diagnosis emphasised the importance of appropriate counselling and raised important ethical questions. Adolescents and adults had a better quality of life if knowledgeable of their cardiac status and had ongoing support from family/friends. The studies adding to current knowledge, may spawn multiple interventional studies to reduce the burden of congenital heart disease.