Something unexpected and urgent during surgery can demand a creative, skilled surgical response and approach, and this kind of creativity can forge procedural novelty. When subsequently well-researched and carefully investigated, a novel procedure could become the next standard of care. Historical case precedents of new surgical technique development have illuminated key technical and ethical questions we should ask (or should have asked) about processes by which we consider whether, when, and which novel surgical approaches get rigorously evaluated in well-designed surgical research protocols. This theme issue investigates processes by which novel techniques in pediatric surgery, in particular, might evolve to improve the range of surgical approach options available to clinicians and parents looking to meet the needs of children, all of whom deserve quality, equitable surgical care.
This theme issue considers how new surgical strategies are developed, who decides when novel techniques should be tried in an operating theater with human patient-subjects, and other neglected themes in pediatric surgical research ethics. We welcome wide ranging manuscripts considering topics such as how and which pediatric surgical outcomes should be reported and to whom; whether and to what extent professional self-regulatory morbidity and mortality review is clinically and ethically sufficient to promote pediatric surgical quality, safety, and conflict of interest mitigation; and which criteria should be used to evaluate nonstandard scenarios in which surgical teams must quickly respond to unexpected changes in a child’s perioperative or operative health status. Even if processes and criteria that guide development of new pediatric surgical procedures do not need more intense federal regulatory scrutiny, clinical and legal transparency would be well-served by ethical investigation and demystification.
Manuscripts submitted for peer review consideration and inclusion in this issue must follow Instructions for Authors and be submitted by 30 April 2025.
The AMA Journal of Ethics® invites original, English-language contributions for peer review consideration on the upcoming themes.