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Chapter 19 - Ethical Issues in Pediatrics

from Section 2 - Consultation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2022

By
Douglas S. Diekema  and
D. Micah Hester
Edited by
D. Micah Hester  and
Toby L. Schonfeld
D. Micah Hester
Affiliation:
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine
Toby L. Schonfeld
Affiliation:
National Center for Ethics in Health Care, US Department of Veterans Affairs
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Summary

Concerns about ethics in the care of children have been central to modern bioethics since its inception over 50 years ago. Key milestones in pediatric bioethics include the controversy over the Willowbrook hepatitis experiments in the 1960s, acknowledgment of the importance of “assent” for children participating in research by the National Commission in the 1970s, and the Baby Doe regulations regarding the treatment of neonates in the 1980s. Despite the prominence of pediatric cases and issues, development of bioethical reasoning during the first 30 years was heavily focused on issues surrounding adults with decisional capacity and the principle of respect for autonomy. In fact, most of the groundbreaking judicial opinions about end-of-life decisions prior to the year 2000 focused on protecting the rights of adults to make autonomous decisions about their own medical care (Menikoff, 2002).

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Chapter
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Guidance for Healthcare Ethics Committees , pp. 165 - 174
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

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