Harm isn't all you need: parental discretion and medical decisions for a child
How should we make decisions about medical treatment for a very young child? What should we do when there is a disagreement between parents and clinicians about what would be best for the child? The conventional answer, as found in textbooks, professional guidelines and the law, is that decisions sh...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2015
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| _version_ | 1797082647996923904 |
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| author | Wilkinson, D Nair, T |
| author_facet | Wilkinson, D Nair, T |
| author_sort | Wilkinson, D |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | How should we make decisions about medical treatment for a very young child? What should we do when there is a disagreement between parents and clinicians about what would be best for the child? The conventional answer, as found in textbooks, professional guidelines and the law, is that decisions should be based on the best interests of the child. However, as noted by Giles Birchley in an article in this issue,1 a number of ethicists have argued that the focus should instead be on harm; parents should be overruled where their decision would cross a threshold level of harm.2 ,3 Birchley, in his article, disagrees. He argues that the harm threshold (HT) suffers from problems of negative connotations, narrow scope and indeterminacy, and that it would be better to clarify the values that should inform best interests. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:30:43Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:9380b55a-1d81-41b1-9f30-68a3454197c6 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:30:43Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:9380b55a-1d81-41b1-9f30-68a3454197c62022-03-26T23:32:42ZHarm isn't all you need: parental discretion and medical decisions for a childJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:9380b55a-1d81-41b1-9f30-68a3454197c6Symplectic Elements at OxfordBMJ Publishing Group2015Wilkinson, DNair, THow should we make decisions about medical treatment for a very young child? What should we do when there is a disagreement between parents and clinicians about what would be best for the child? The conventional answer, as found in textbooks, professional guidelines and the law, is that decisions should be based on the best interests of the child. However, as noted by Giles Birchley in an article in this issue,1 a number of ethicists have argued that the focus should instead be on harm; parents should be overruled where their decision would cross a threshold level of harm.2 ,3 Birchley, in his article, disagrees. He argues that the harm threshold (HT) suffers from problems of negative connotations, narrow scope and indeterminacy, and that it would be better to clarify the values that should inform best interests. |
| spellingShingle | Wilkinson, D Nair, T Harm isn't all you need: parental discretion and medical decisions for a child |
| title | Harm isn't all you need: parental discretion and medical decisions for a child |
| title_full | Harm isn't all you need: parental discretion and medical decisions for a child |
| title_fullStr | Harm isn't all you need: parental discretion and medical decisions for a child |
| title_full_unstemmed | Harm isn't all you need: parental discretion and medical decisions for a child |
| title_short | Harm isn't all you need: parental discretion and medical decisions for a child |
| title_sort | harm isn t all you need parental discretion and medical decisions for a child |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT wilkinsond harmisntallyouneedparentaldiscretionandmedicaldecisionsforachild AT nairt harmisntallyouneedparentaldiscretionandmedicaldecisionsforachild |