Ethics of Burn Wound Care in a Low-Middle Income Country

Shelley Wall, Nikki Allorto, Ross Weale, Victor Kong, Damian Clarke

This review focuses on burn care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). It attempts to put the burden of disease in perspective by showing that burn care is under-resourced across the spectrum of LMICs and by interrogating the ethical dilemmas and challenges that staff face in caring for burn patients in this environment, with a focus on South Africa. More specifically, it will attempt to address the following issues: the threshold for utilizing the intensive care unit (ICU), how to balance treatment against cost, the percentage burn considered survivable and how it should be determined, the use of skin from both cadavers and living related donors, and the appropriate ethical guidelines for LMICs.