This books gives guidance for doctors and other health professionals who are involved in providing health care for children and young people. The books sets out best practice guidance, and explains that children and young people should be allowed to participate in decisions about their health care to the extent they wish. It explains who can give consent to treatment on behalf of a person under 18 and when children and young people can seek health care and advice independently. It also explores the issue of refusal of treatment; what parents are entitled to refuse on behalf of their young children, and what to do if young people refuse treatment. A comprehensive summary of chapters provides quick reference for the key ethical and legal issues.
In recent decades, advances in biomedical research have helped save or lengthen the lives of children around the world. With improved therapies, child and adolescent mortality rates have decreased significantly in the last half century. Despite these advances, pediatricians and others argue that children have not shared equally with adults in biomedical advances. Even though we want children to benefit from the dramatic and accelerating rate of progress in medical care that has been fueled by scientific research, we do not want to place children at risk of being harmed by participating in clinical studies. Ethical Conduct of Clinical Research Involving Children considers the necessities and challenges of this type of research and reviews the ethical and legal standards for conducting it. It also considers problems with the interpretation and application of these standards and conduct, concluding that while children should not be excluded from potentially beneficial clinical studies, some research that is ethically permissible for adults is not acceptable for children, who usually do not have the legal capacity or maturity to make informed decisions about research participation. The book looks at the need for appropriate pediatric expertise at all stages of the design, review, and conduct of a research project to effectively implement policies to protect children. It argues persuasively that a robust system for protecting human research participants in general is a necessary foundation for protecting child research participants in particular.
What should happen when doctors and parents disagree about what would be best for a child? When should courts become involved? Should life support be stopped against parents' wishes? The case of Charlie Gard, reached global attention in 2017. It led to widespread debate about the ethics of disagreements between doctors and parents, about the place of the law in such disputes, and about the variation in approach between different parts of the world. In this book, medical ethicists Dominic Wilkinson and Julian Savulescu critically examine the ethical questions at the heart of disputes about medical treatment for children. They use the Gard case as a springboard to a wider discussion about the rights of parents, the harms of treatment, and the vital issue of limited resources. They discuss other prominent UK and international cases of disagreement and conflict. From opposite sides of the debate Wilkinson and Savulescu provocatively outline the strongest arguments in favour of and against treatment. They analyse some of the distinctive and challenging features of treatment disputes in the 21st century and argue that disagreement about controversial ethical questions is both inevitable and desirable. They outline a series of lessons from the Gard case and propose a radical new 'dissensus' framework for future cases of disagreement. - This new book critically examines the core ethical questions at the heart of disputes about medical treatment for children. - The contents review prominent cases of disagreement from the UK and internationally and analyse some of the distinctive and challenging features around treatment disputes in the 21st century. - The book proposes a radical new framework for future cases of disagreement around the care of gravely ill people.
Medicine is a complex social institution which includes biomedical research, clinical practice, and the administration and organization of health care delivery. As such, it is amenable to analysis from a number of disciplines and directions. The present volume is composed of revised papers on the theme of "Responsibility in Health Care" presented at the Eleventh Trans Disciplinary Symposium on Philosophy and Medicine, which was held in Springfield, illinois on March 16-18, 1981. The collective focus of these essays is the clinical practice of medicine and the themes and issues related to questions of responsibility in that setting. Responsibility has three related dimensions which make it a suitable theme for an inquiry into clinical medicine: (a) an external dimension in legal and political analysis in which the State imposes penalties on individuals and groups and in which officials and governments are held accountable for policies; (b) an internal dimension in moral and ethical analysis in which individuals take into account the consequences of their actions and the criteria which bear upon their choices; and (c) a comprehensive dimension in social and cultural analysis in which values are ordered in the structure of a civilization ([8], p. 5). The title "Responsibility in Health Care" thus signifies a broad inquiry not only into the ethics of individual character and actions, but the moral foundations of the cultural, legal, political, and social context of health care generally.
This book focuses on those nursing skills that are truly valued and needed by children and young people with mental health problems. Whilst other books have chiefly focused on mental health conditions and treatments, this book moves away from this formulaic approach and considers what children and youth themselves need most from health professionals. It shows why nursing skills are among the most precious values for patients. This focus on therapeutic relationships, establishing trust-based forms of nursing, and empowering children and young people to develop into healthy and resilient young adults has largely been neglected, despite the feedback from those who urgently need help but often struggle to find it, or are wary of seeking help and reluctant to engage. This book focuses on the places where nurses encounter young people and seek to help them. It examines the role nurses play in specialist child and adolescent mental health settings (such as in-patient and community, as psychotherapists, and on self-harm teams) and where paediatrics nurses work with troubled young people (in emergency departments, paediatric wards and primary care). It also considers two specific areas, namely eating disorder services and consent-seeking, that could benefit from nursing skills that are currently undervalued, but are in fact invaluable. Its focus on those skills that nurses already have, but may not be consciously using, will make this book uniquely appealing to all nurses who work with children and young people with mental health problems, regardless of the setting, and an essential guide for students and experienced professionals alike.
This popular textbook is aimed at children’s nurses in a wide range of practice settings including primary, ambulatory, and tertiary care. Covering the full age and specialty spectrum this text brings together chapters from among the best-known children’s nurses in the UK. It describes family-centred child healthcare drawing upon practice throughout the UK and further afield. This innovative text provides up to date information on a wide range of topics. Each chapter offers readers additional material on Evolve. Full Microsoft PowerPoint presentations that facilitate interactive learning augment the written chapters and provide information not normally possible in a standard textbook e.g. colour photographs, video clips. Although intended for nurses the book adopts an interprofessional, problem-solving and reflective approach aimed at students, practitioners and child health educators. Material is offered from levels 1-3 and some of the ancillary material extends into the postgraduate arena. Each chapter offers readers additional material on an Evolve website. Full Microsoft PowerPoint presentations augment the written chapters and provide extra information that includes case studies, moving image, photographs and text. Aims, objectives, learning outcomes, a summary box in each chapter and key points assist learning and understanding Professional conversation boxes enliven the text on the page and make it more interesting to dip into Suggestions for seminar discussion topics to help teachers Case studies help to relate theory to practice Prompts to promote reflective practice Activity boxes/suggested visits Evidence based practice boxes which highlight key research studies, annotated bibliographies including details of web-sites and full contemporary references to the evidence base Resource lists including recommended web-site addresses New chapter on blood disorders of childhood. New material on caring for young people and transitions in care. More on childhood eczema, childhood and adolescent mental health, solid tumours of childhood.
Health Care and the Law 4th Edition is recognised as one of the leading texts setting out the basic principles of health care law in New Zealand. This book is an easy-to- understand, practical and uncomplicated account of health care law, making it an essential text for health practitioners, lawyers and students. Since 2004 when the 3rd edition of this book was published, there have been a number of legislative changes in the area of health law. This edition keeps you current with these changes, with updates made to all chapters. The inclusion of relevant case law also provides readers a greater understanding of the practicalities of the law, how it has been applied and how it may relate to them.
