This unique and innovative title offers a comprehensive exploration of the intersection of ethics, violence, trauma, and trauma surgery.  Underscoring that the causes of violence include a wide range of socioeconomic factors, including poverty and the lack of economic opportunity, and that violence often occurs in impoverished and underserved communities, various authors from a wide range of disciplines outline how intentional violence toward another person is multidimensional and complex.  Many of the authors use Chicago as a framework for their chapter discussion, but there are similarities in many urban settings throughout the United States and abroad.  Part I of the book, Ethical Issues Related to Violence, includes seven chapters that examine ethical issues related to violence. Each of these chapters discusses a different but intersecting aspect of how violence challenges ethical standards in medicine and health.  Part II, Ethical Issues Related to Trauma and Trauma Surgery, offers eight chapters that address various aspects of ethical issues related to trauma and trauma surgery. Part III, Additional Concerns Relating to Violence and Trauma, describe a series of issues relating to violence and trauma, including surgical procedures, psychological distress, and geographic disparities in access to trauma care.  Developed by nationally renowned thought leaders in the field, Violence, Trauma, and Trauma Surgery is a major and novel contribution to the clinical literature and will be of great interest to all physicians, clinicians, researchers, social scientists, students, policymakers, hospital administrators and community leaders concerned with understanding and improving outcomes relating to violence, trauma, and trauma surgery.

Violence and trauma are growing global problems. From the impacts of geopolitical forces to structural violence to the local effects of interpersonal violence, trauma is ubiquitous in our society. Existing trauma systems everywhere are expanding to meet the needs of injured patients. Unfortunately, in some places, adequate resources are not in place to provide modern trauma care. Until very recently, this absence of resources existed on the South Side of Chicago. For three decades, the South Side of Chicago was a relative trauma “desert”. In 2018, the University of Chicago Medicine opened a modern adult trauma center in an area that previously suffered from a relative lack of access to adult trauma care. 

This book will provide the reader with an understanding of the journey the University of Chicago went through to develop a modern trauma center where there previously was nothing. It will chart a journey through the history on the South Side of Chicago and will provide an understanding of the proper needs assessment that goes into planning a new trauma center. It will describe the implementation of the multi-disciplinary teams needed to provide modern trauma care. It will then describe the effects of this trauma center and its future directions. As many places are struggling with caring for increasing levels of violence, there likely will be a need for others to go through a similar developmental process. Sharing the experience of the University of Chicago Medicine going from a non-trauma hospital to the busiest trauma center in Chicago, we hope that this book will provide some guidance to others and accompany you on one’s journey.

This unique and innovative title offers a comprehensive exploration of the intersection of ethics, violence, trauma, and trauma surgery.  Underscoring that the causes of violence include a wide range of socioeconomic factors, including poverty and the lack of economic opportunity, and that violence often occurs in impoverished and underserved communities, various authors from a wide range of disciplines outline how intentional violence toward another person is multidimensional and complex.  Many of the authors use Chicago as a framework for their chapter discussion, but there are similarities in many urban settings throughout the United States and abroad.  Part I of the book, Ethical Issues Related to Violence, includes seven chapters that examine ethical issues related to violence. Each of these chapters discusses a different but intersecting aspect of how violence challenges ethical standards in medicine and health.  Part II, Ethical Issues Related to Trauma and Trauma Surgery, offers eight chapters that address various aspects of ethical issues related to trauma and trauma surgery. Part III, Additional Concerns Relating to Violence and Trauma, describe a series of issues relating to violence and trauma, including surgical procedures, psychological distress, and geographic disparities in access to trauma care.  Developed by nationally renowned thought leaders in the field, Violence, Trauma, and Trauma Surgery is a major and novel contribution to the clinical literature and will be of great interest to all physicians, clinicians, researchers, social scientists, students, policymakers, hospital administrators and community leaders concerned with understanding and improving outcomes relating to violence, trauma, and trauma surgery.

Violence and trauma are growing global problems. From the impacts of geopolitical forces to structural violence to the local effects of interpersonal violence, trauma is ubiquitous in our society. Existing trauma systems everywhere are expanding to meet the needs of injured patients. Unfortunately, in some places, adequate resources are not in place to provide modern trauma care. Until very recently, this absence of resources existed on the South Side of Chicago. For three decades, the South Side of Chicago was a relative trauma “desert”. In 2018, the University of Chicago Medicine opened a modern adult trauma center in an area that previously suffered from a relative lack of access to adult trauma care. 

This book will provide the reader with an understanding of the journey the University of Chicago went through to develop a modern trauma center where there previously was nothing. It will chart a journey through the history on the South Side of Chicago and will provide an understanding of the proper needs assessment that goes into planning a new trauma center. It will describe the implementation of the multi-disciplinary teams needed to provide modern trauma care. It will then describe the effects of this trauma center and its future directions. As many places are struggling with caring for increasing levels of violence, there likely will be a need for others to go through a similar developmental process. Sharing the experience of the University of Chicago Medicine going from a non-trauma hospital to the busiest trauma center in Chicago, we hope that this book will provide some guidance to others and accompany you on one’s journey.