Physicians Update Winter 201 3 Technology Issue Donor Organs p. 3 Telemedicine p. 4 Ethics p. 6 High-Tech Transport System p. 8 Inflammatory Bowel Disease p. 10 Telemedicine Remote Access Extends Specialty Care to More Patients Nearly 56 million Americans — more than 5 million in California alone — live in areas where distance or other barriers impede their access to needed medical services. Advances in telemedicine now make it possible for these previously underserved populations to receive life-saving treatment within minutes, even when medical subspecialists are in short supply. “There aren’t enough pediatric cardiologists in every hospital and every community across the country to provide timely diagnosis to patients with congenital heart defects,” explains Gary M. Satou, MD, director of pediatric echocardiography at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA and codirector of the UCLA Fetal Cardiology Program. Patients with congenital cardiac malformations, the most common birth defect, can have low oxygen levels and die within hours of birth if continued on p. 4