Physician Profile
Matt
L. Kirkland, MD
General Surgeon
Dr. Matt L. Kirkland received the call on his
day off. It was Thanksgiving Day. Was he willing
to take a patient with severe internal bleeding
at an Atlantic City hospital who was unwilling
to accept a blood transfusion?
The patient’s family had contacted several
other hospitals in the area with the same request.
But, they all refused.
Dr. Kirkland said yes.
And so, Mrs. Rosa Valencia was transferred to
the Center for Bloodless Medicine & Surgery
(CBMS) at Pennsylvania Hospital for a risky -
but successful - surgical procedure that saved
her life. See feature
story.
Dr. Kirkland, a general surgeon whose special
interests include gastrointestinal and oncologic
surgery, described the challenges regularly encountered
when caring for patients who choose non-blood
medicine and surgery.
“It (non-blood medicine and surgery) presents
an intellectual dilemma as a physician. You must
be at peace with the possible consequences of
not transfusing. You have to be comfortable with
not imposing your will on patients,” he
said.
If a patient refuses a blood transfusion, Dr.
Kirkland added, you must be able to “look
them square in the eye - my question to them
is, by my not giving you a blood transfusion
you do understand that you may bleed to death?” Dr.
Kirkland said that Jehovah’s Witnesses
are probably the only group that will most likely
answer yes to that question.
He said that the Center for Bloodless Medicine & Surgery
at Pennsylvania Hospital brings in “a defined
population of patients who will not accept transfusions,
primarily Jehovah’s Witnesses. They come
for surgery based on the fact that the institution
meets their needs.”
Many opportunities do exist for additional types
of patients to be seen at the Center, he said.
For example, patients with infectious diseases
or cross matching problems are possible candidates.
Dr. Kirkland said his hope is that this alternative
method will be expanded to patients who are not
opting for non-blood surgery.
“Keeping blood loss at a minimum is also
a goal due to immunodeficiencies, cost and infectious
diseases,” he added.
Dr. Kirkland said that the fundamentals of surgery
are to manage and control blood loss. “Even
in the absence of a formal program like CBMS,
a surgeon’s career or scientific goal is
to minimize blood loss, to avoid transfusions
and to decrease wound infections.”
“Your goal, as a surgeon, is to not use blood and to control bleeding.
This keeps one focused on the historic goals of surgery. It brings us back to
the roots of medicine.”
Dr. Kirkland - recognized in Philadelphia
Magazine’s May 2002 Top Docs issue
- received his medical degree from Jefferson
Medical College. He completed his residency
and fellowship in surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital.
Dr. Kirkland is board-certified and a member
of the American College of Surgeons.
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