How Should Surgeons Help Formerly Incarcerated Patients With Chronic Surgical Needs Maintain Care Continuity?

Abstract

Stoma care is very challenging, and, with the added hardship of incarceration, patients find it very difficult to navigate living with a stoma and having it reversed in a timely fashion. Incarceration history adds to the clinical and ethical complexity of surgical care for patients who require an ostomy, especially when secondary to trauma. This commentary on a case canvasses strategies for responding to long-term needs of formerly incarcerated patients with an ostomy who need good follow-up care as much as they need support reintegrating into communities.