What do you do for a flail chest?

See below: Flail chest, multiple ribs fractured in multiple places on one side of the chest, can cause inability of the lung to expand on that side. Usually ventilator support and underlying lung healing will allow the ribs to heal on their own. Rarely surgery is needed to fixate the ribs if there is too much damage or lack of self-healing.

Fix them: I fix them using plate and screw constructs. I've developed a muscle sparing technique that works well. It has been shown to improve patient outcomes and speed up time to get out of the hospital and icu.