Overview
In paediatrics, clinicians and parents sometimes disagree about the appropriate medical treatment for a child. Parents can prefer an option that differs from the clinician's recommendation. When should the parents' decision about their child's medical treatment be overridden? \nThis book explores ethical decision-making when clinicians and parents disagree about medical treatment for a child. It develops and explores a concept called the zone of parental discretion: an ethical tool that aims to balance children's wellbeing and parents' rights to make medical decisions for their children. Written by experienced clinical ethicists and paediatric clinicians, this book offers ethical analysis and practical guidance based on real-life clinical cases. It aims to assist doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and clinical ethics staff to deal with these ethically challenging situations. \nThe book is divided into five parts: 1. An ethical tool: the zone of parental discretion 2. Roles of doctors and parents in decision-making 3. Clinicians encountering parental refusals 4. Clinicians encountering parental requests for treatment 5. Clinicians encountering parental requests for interventions on healthy children \nFor more information visit: www.whendoctorsandparentsdisagree.com \nIn the media... \n \n Dr Ros McDougall on ABC Radio National, Life Matters with Cassie McCullaghon_9 September 2016 Listen to interview... \n When doctors and parents disagree: clinical 'best' not always best for family, The Melbourne Newsroom, 9 September 2016 Read article... \n When parents disagree with doctors on a child's treatment, who should have the final say?, The Conversation, 7 September 2016 Read article... \n
Full Product Details
Author: Rosalind McDougall ,
Clare Delany ,
Lynn Gillam
Publisher: Federation Press
Imprint: Federation Press
Weight: 0.332kg
ISBN: 9781760020590
ISBN 10: 1760020591
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 22 June 2016
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
College/higher education
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
Last week this publication reviewed the work of John Seymour, Children, Parents and the Courts; Legal Intervention in Family Life which concerned the intervention by the Courts in parenting. This week's review considers a work on a closely related topic being the conflict which arises when parents and doctors disagree as to the appropriate medical treatment to provide to children. In particular, the work considers those occasions where medical treatment can be withdrawn from children. This work concentrates on the ethical rather than legal issues which arise when parents and medical practitioners disagree as to the medical treatment which is appropriate for a child. It seeks to develop an ethical tool which can be used to solve such issues when they arise; it is called the Zone of Parental Discretion. The tool seeks to balance the wellbeing of the child with the rights of parents to make medical decisions for their child. It is a collation of essays which are well ordered and interrelated and which are written by leading experienced clinical ethicists and paediatric clinicians. Its focus is on the resolution of ethical conflicts which arise when clinicians are faced with parents who require treatment for children which is not recommended by medical practitioners. It is a relatively short work which is easy to read and a useful reference for those engaged in the resolution of medical / legal issues. - Queensland Law Reporter - 2 September 2016 - [2016] 34 QLR
Ethical issues in health are common and paediatric health can be particularly complicated and challenging. Parents' rights to make medical decisions for their children are widely acknowledged. But is this always the best for the child? How do we determine the appropriateness of this widely held belief? What do we do when there is a disagreement between the treating team and parents? Doctors and Parents Disagree: Ethics, Paediatrics and the Zone of Parental Discretion provides an interesting and informative look at the variety of ethical decisions facing health care professionals working in these areas. ... The book aims to assist doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and clinical ethics staff to deal with these ethically challenging situations , which is exactly what it does. As a social worker within this area, I found the case scenarios allow for important ethical discussion and reflection, but perhaps of greatest benefit in the book is the very real and practical support the ZPD framework provides for clinicians working through these challenging scenarios. Read full review... - Katherine Dowson, Social Work Connect, November 2016 The past 60 years has seen enormous changes in the way in which decisions regarding the medical care of children are approached. From an era of medical paternalism where doctor knew best , decision making has emerged into an era where parent and care givers have become an integral part of the decision-making process and the internet has seriously eroded the doctor's monopoly on information relevant to decisions whether or not to treat, or between various treatment options. ... The way in which doctors are equipped to deal with these type of dilemmas traditionally involved resort to deceptively simplistic admonitions to do no harm or to do what is best for the child. However, in clinical practice, such phrases are apt to beg more questions than they answer. How does one determine what is best for the child? How should the harm which might result from the parents' refusal to agree to treatment to be weighed against the harm which might result from the treatment if it were to proceed? Without a framework, questions of this type are apt to multiply and lead to inconsistent results even among similar clinical situations. This is the area in which the authors of When Doctors and Parents Disagree suggest a framework to enable clinicians to address treatment decision in an orderly way. For legal practitioners the approach is familiar: in determining whether to grant an interlocutory injunction, the court does not proceed by asking what is the best outcome but by asking a structured series of questions reaching an outcome that is one of many which are good enough rather than best . ... The book is a useful resource in a difficult area of practice in both the medical and legal professions. It will also be of assistance to courts exercising statutory or parens patriae jurisdiction in disputes between parents and doctors over the treatment of children or even adults under an incapacity. Read full review... - Scott Aspinall, Australian Law Journal, 2016, 90 This small volume contains thirteen articles by medical professionals practising in various paediatric specialties. Its intended audience is the community of medical practitioners generally, and its stated aim is to raise an important ethical issue - in what instances should a medical practitioner override a parent's decision about their child's medical care - and to provide an ethical tool to doctors faced with such situations. Read full review... - Richard Weinstein, Bar News, NSW Bar Association, Summer 2016 Last week this publication reviewed the work of John Seymour, Children, Parents and the Courts; Legal Intervention in Family Life which concerned the intervention by the Courts in parenting. This week's review considers a work on a closely related topic being the conflict which arises when parents and doctors disagree as to the appropriate medical treatment to provide to children. In particular, the work considers those occasions where medical treatment can be withdrawn from children. This work concentrates on the ethical rather than legal issues which arise when parents and medical practitioners disagree as to the medical treatment which is appropriate for a child. It seeks to develop an ethical tool which can be used to solve such issues when they arise; it is called the Zone of Parental Discretion. The tool seeks to balance the wellbeing of the child with the rights of parents to make medical decisions for their child. It is a collation of essays which are well ordered and interrelated and which are written by leading experienced clinical ethicists and paediatric clinicians. Its focus is on the resolution of ethical conflicts which arise when clinicians are faced with parents who require treatment for children which is not recommended by medical practitioners. It is a relatively short work which is easy to read and a useful reference for those engaged in the resolution of medical / legal issues. - Queensland Law Reporter - 2 September 2016 - [2016] 34 QLR
Author Information
Rosalind McDougall is an ethicist at the Children's Bioethics Centre, Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, and at the Centre for Health Equity, University of Melbourne. She studied philosophy, genetics and bioethics at the University of Melbourne and the University of Oxford, and has published widely on issues in clinical ethics and reproductive ethics. Her research focuses on paediatrics and parenthood. Rosalind has been involved in clinical ethics case consultation in Australian hospitals since 2008, and is currently a member of the Clinical Ethics Response Group at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne. Clare Delany worked for many years as a physiotherapist but now researches and practices in clinical ethics and clinical education. Clare is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Education, School of Medicine at the University of Melbourne and a Clinical Ethicist at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne. At the University, Clare teaches in professional ethics, qualitative research and critical thinking and reasoning in health care. At the Children's Bioethics Centre, Clare is a member of the Clinical Ethics Response Group and is involved in education, consultations and research in paediatric clinical ethics. Lynn Gillam is an experienced ethicist, originally trained in philosophy (MA, 1988, Oxon) and bioethics (PhD, Monash, 2000). Lynn is the Academic Director of the Children's Bioethics Centre at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne. She is also Professor in Health Ethics at the University of Melbourne, in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. Lynn works in clinical ethics case consultation at the Royal Children's Hospital, and has been involved in over 200 ethics consultations over the past 10 years. At the Royal Children's Hospital, she also provides policy advice and leads research into a range of issues in paediatric clinical ethics.
