Demands for harmful treatments by children and the challenge of reasonable pluralism: a quasi-clinical ethics consultation

Giles M Birchley*, D. Micah Hester

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter in a book

Abstract

This chapter explores demands for harmful treatment through the lens of a case study. Therein, an adolescent with terminal cancer, supported by her mother, demands treatment that her doctors believe will be harmful. Besides analysing the ethics of demands for harmful treatment, we also consider the challenges placed to ethical deliberation by the fact of reasonable pluralism, where persons disagree about ethical issues despite taking reasonable and thoughtful approaches. Treating the chapter as a quasi-clinical ethics consultation, we jointly consider some important concepts within the case, before separately applying different frameworks that emphasise our individual concerns. For Birchley, the importance of focusing on the equal humanity of the child means this involves a children’s rights analysis, while for Hester, an obligations approach is important because it emphasises the unique nature of both the parental and the medical role. While their background reasoning differs, both authors conclude that demands for harmful treatment cannot be honoured in this case. The chapter concludes by considering what value this sort of ethical consultation has, and whether, and how, it might be augmented by using more procedural approaches such as mediation or legal adjudication. Because procedural approaches themselves have limitations and weaknesses, we conclude that using both ethical analysis and robust procedure is the best way to overcome some of the weaknesses and problems inherent when each is used separately.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPediatric Ethics: Theory and Practice
EditorsNico Nortje, Johan Bester
PublisherSpringer
Chapter10
Pages171
Number of pages185
Publication statusPublished - 2 Dec 2021

Research Groups and Themes

  • BABEL

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