Ethical Dilemmas in Pediatrics
Cases and Commentaries

This collection of cases and commentaries highlights ethical dilemmas arising during high-tech hospital care of seriously ill children.

Lorry R. Frankel (Edited by), Amnon Goldworth (Edited by), Mary V. Rorty (Edited by), William A. Silverman (Edited by)

9780521118613, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 20 August 2009

316 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.47 kg

'For all practising pediatricians.' Pediatric Endocrinology Reviews

Children in precarious health present particular problems for healthcare professionals because of their intimate relation to their family, and because of the family's need to provide major long-term source of support and to be actively involved in the decisions about their children's care. This collection of cases and commentaries in pediatrics highlights the difficult ethical dilemmas that can arise during high-tech hospital care of children in precarious circumstances. It serves as a teaching tool for clinical ethics and as an introduction for medical students and residents. Clinical cases are described in detail by the physicians involved, who focus on the ethical issues arising during treatment. Each case is then commented on in detail by a philosopher or other bioethicist. It thus serves well as an introduction to contemporary clinical bioethics, but with a firm grounding in the practicalities of real-life pediatric care in the hospital setting.

Part I. Therapeutic Misalliances: 1a. Unconventional medicine in the pediatric intensive care unit Chester Randle
1b. Role of responsibility in pediatrics: appeasing or transforming parental demands? Richard B. Miller
2a. The extremely premature infant at the crossroads Ronald Cohen, Eugene Kim
2b. The extremely premature infant at the crossroads: ethical and legal considerations Simon Whitney
3a. Munchausen syndrome by proxy Manuel Garcia-Careaga and John Kerner
3b. Conceptual and ethical issues in Munchausen syndrome by proxy F. M. Kamm
Part II. Medical Futility: 4a. Letting go: a study in pediatric life-and-death decision making Lawrence H. Mathers
4b. Near drowning, futility and the limits of shared decision making Simon Whitney
5a. Long-term ventilation in a child with severe central nervous system impairment Ronald M. Perkin, Robert Orr and Stephen Ashwal
5b. Autonomy, community and futility: Moral paradigms for the long-term ventilation of severely impaired child Anita Silvers
6a. Complexities in the management of a brain dead child Lorry Frankel and Chester Randle
6b. The moral arena in the management of a brain dead child Amnon Goldworth
Part III. Life By Any Means: 7a. Where should a child die? Roger Burne
7b. Where should a child (in the U.S.) die? William A. Silverman
8a. Infant heart transplantation and hypoplastic left heart syndrome: what are the ethical issues? Clifford Chin
8b. Infant heart transplantation and hypoplastic left heart syndrome: a response Joel E. Frader
9a. Liver and intestinal transplantation Manuel Garcia-Careaga, Ricardo Orlando Castillo and John Kerner
9b. Transplantation and adolescents Rosamond Rhodes
Part IV. Institutional Impediments to Ethical Action: 10a. Ethics problems encountered with oncology and bone marrow transplant patients Lorry R. Frankel and Joseph V. DiCarlo
10b. Ethical problems encountered in the intensive care unit with oncology and bone marrow transplant patients Linda Granowetter
11a. Nursing perspectives on withholding food and fluids in pediatrics Joy Penticuff
11b. Ethics and clinical decision making: withholding food and information Mary V. Rorty
12a. Ethics and managed care Douglas S. Diekema
12b. Challenging fidelity: physicians' role in rationing Nancy S. Jecker
Glossary of terms
Index.

Subject Areas: Paediatric medicine [MJW], Medical ethics & professional conduct [MBDC]