Social and Medical Ethics: Implications for Romanian Protocols Regarding the Therapy of Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome in Trauma Patients

In medical practice, a particularly important therapeutic problem is the patient with traumatic injuries developing ethanol withdrawal during hospitalization. The management of such patients requires both a comprehensive approach in terms of therapy and a very delicate one regarding issues of medical ethics and social implications and costs. More medical schools, among which the ones in France, the US, the UK, etc., opt for the administration of alcoholic solutions, perfusable ones included, for preventing withdrawal symptoms. We consider that currently the relevant Romanian protocols are inappropriate as they ignore the fact that an addiction can be cured only if the patient is willing to and, even if this is the case, alcohol dependence is unlikely to be cured. Therefore, we believe that the preventive administration of certain alcoholic solutions in hospital would be beneficial both to the patient’s evolution and to the prevention of the social implications of treating the alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) in a trauma center or intensive care unit.