Courts considering teenagers' refusal of life-saving treatments often consider their maturity, the beliefs underlying the refusal, their parents' wishes, and the chances that treatment would cure them.
When a severely ill child comes into the emergency room, assent for emergency care is no more required than is parental permission. Conveying the needed care is the top priority.
Some treatments of childhood cancer can cause infertility in adulthood. What should be the roles of physicians in helping parents decide whether, when, and what their child is told about this risk?
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(5):426-435. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.5.ecas2-1705.
We should conduct empirical research to better understand how patients, parents, clinicians, and others grapple with the ethical challenges we confront when caring for children who are dying.
James Mills Jr., MD, a founder of emergency medicine, believed he could have greater impact on medical care for the poor in his city by giving up his practice and working in the emergency room full time.