Fatima F. Aly M.D., F.A.A.P
Assistant Professor
Associate Clerkship Director
Department of Pediatrics
Values and medical ethics
 Respect for Autonomy – the patient has the right to refuse
or choose their treatment.
 What about a child?
 Beneficence – a practitioner should act in the best interest
of the patient.
 Who is the patient?
 Non-maleficence – ‘first do no harm’.
 Justice – concerns the distribution of scarce health
resources, & the decision of who gets what treatment
(fairness & equality).
 Which patient deserve the care?
 Respect for persons – the patient & the person treating the
patient have the right to be treated with dignity & respect.
 Truthfulness & honesty – the concept of informed
consent/assent.
Objectives
 Examine health care vignettes from the
perspective of spirituality, ethics and health
care access.
 Identify the appropriate ethical and clinical
interactions between patients, their families
and the health care provider.
 Promote awareness of different spiritual and
ethical perspectives and how they play out in
health care setting.
 Promote awareness of the law and the role of
state agencies.
Case 1 – Vaccine Refusal
Maria is a 2 month old girl, a patient of yours, whose parents
bring her for her routine well child check. The parents have
been told by their church pastor that some vaccines violate
religious tenets & after doing some research online, they also
have decided that the medical risk is too high, especially since
the chance of her getting any of these diseases is so low.
You explain that the risks of the vaccines have been
exaggerated; that there is a real risk to Maria if she is not
immunized.
Maria’s parents explain that they have read some very
convincing articles & that medicine can’t promise she won’t
become autistic or come down with some other condition.
That, for them, is too high a price to pay for their child.
Case 1 – Vaccine Refusal
The role of parents:
 Responsibility
 Decision making
 Avoiding harm
Parents usually want what is best for their children.
Parental values are imparted to the children.
The role of the physician/pediatrician:
 Respecting each child & their family.
 Sharing honest & unbiased information with families on an ongoing basis; in ways
they find useful & affirming.
 The role of physician-family relationship.
Community Interest & Public Health:
 Compulsory immunization laws in the U.S.
 Public health:
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Immunized kids – & heard immunity.
Kids who can not or should not be immunized – the ‘sick’ child
Other unimmunized kids.
The law - role of state agencies to override parental discretion.
Case 1 – Vaccine Refusal
Vaccines are very safe, but they are not risk
free; nor are they 100% effective. Maldonado
YA. Current controversies in vaccination:
vaccine safety. JAMA.2002;288 :3155– 3158
Case 2 – Request for
Abortion
Regina is 16 years old & pregnant. She is
considering an abortion & comes to you, her
primary care provider, seeking help. Regina
says she really needs to talk her options over
with an adult who is “outside of her family.”
She did not want her parents to know about the
pregnancy.
Case 2 – Request for
Abortion
Can you discuss Regina’s pregnancy & her consideration
of an abortion with her?
Are you required to call Regina’s parents & tell them
about her pregnancy?
 The rights of the child/adolescent/minor.
 Issues of confidentiality.
 The rights of parents to know.
 Assent/consent.
 The physician’s spiritual beliefs &/or conscientious
objection.
 The physicians’ duty of care.
 To refer or not to refer.
 The law in Texas.
Case 2 – Request for
Abortion - Texas Law
Do teens need their parent’s permission to get an abortion?
Yes. In Texas & Louisiana, state law requires that the parent
or legal guardian provide written permission for unmarried
teens (under the age of 18) to have an abortion. There are a
few exceptions:
 The teen can go before a judge & receive permission from
the judge to have an abortion without the parent’s
permission. “Judicial Bypass”.
 Teens who are legally emancipated do not need to have
permission from a parent or guardian.
 If there is a medical emergency & the pregnant teen needs
an abortion, the parent does not have to give permission.
http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/wrtk/default.shtm
CASE 3 – End of Life issues
Anna is 15 years old & has been living with
Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) for 4 years.
Currently she is admitted to the Children’s
Hospital with 3 weeks history of fatigue &
lethargy. This is her 3rd extended admission in
the last 2 years. Clinical evaluation & prognosis
is grim.
Her parents decide not to initiate any treatment
for her ALL & ask the medical staff not to tell
her that her ALL has returned; nor about her
prognosis.
CASE 3 – End of Life issues
 The role of parents
 Responsibility.
 Best interest.
 Spiritual & moral values.
 Conflict of interest (money/time)
 The role of the older child.
 Mature minor.
 Issues of assent/consent.
 The role of the health care providers.
 Who decides.
Best interest standard V. Harm principle.
CASE 3 – End of Life issues
Mature Minor Doctrine:
 It is a statutory, regulatory or common law policy.
 Now considered as a form of patients rights.
 Precedence:
 Washington Supreme Court, Smith v. Seibly. 1967.
 Washington Supreme Court, Grannum v. Berard. 1967.
 West Virginia Supreme Court, Belcher v. Charleston Area Medical
Center. 1992.
"The mental capacity necessary to consent to medical treatment is a question
of fact to be determined from the circumstances of each individual case."
The Court explicitly stated that a minor may grant surgical consent even
without formal emancipation.
Mature minor exception to parental consent: 7 factors should be weighed:
 Age; ability, experience, education, exhibited judgment, conduct &
appreciation of relevant risks & consequences (Mature Minors &
Emancipated Minors", Health Sciences Center, West Virginia University).
CASE 3 – End of Life issues
Mature Minor Doctrine:
 Any un-emancipated minor patient who is capable
of understanding his/her treatment options, is
experienced enough to consider the consequences
to him/her of those options, & is mature enough
to cope with the information, deliberation &
outcomes; should have authority to make the
decision at hand.