• Brian Swendseid, Patrick Tassone, Patrick Jean Gilles, Magda Pavrette, Matthew Stewart, Mercy Babatope, Donald Weed, David Cognetti, Adam Luginbuhl, and Joseph Curry.
• 1 Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
• Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2019 Mar 1; 160 (3): 426-428.

AbstractAccessibility to health care, especially complex surgical care, represents one of the major health care disparities in developing countries. While surgical teams may be willing to travel to these areas to help address these needs, there are many logistical and ethical dilemmas inherent in this pursuit. We reviewed our approach to the establishment of the team-based surgical outreach program, wherein we perform head and neck free tissue transfer surgery in Haiti. We describe the challenges encountered in the delivery of surgical care as well as ethical dilemmas relevant to surgical outreach trips, highlighting an approach reliant on strong local cooperation. Despite the obstacles in place, our experience shows that free flap surgery can be successfully and ethically performed in these areas of great need.

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