title: Telling patients about medical negligence.
abstract: A 7-year-old boy, diagnosed as having croup, develops an upper airway obstruction due to epiglottitis during the therapy, resulting in cerebral anoxia. Pediatricians to whom the boy is referred feel that failure to consider epiglottitis in the original diagnosis constitutes negligence. The parents suspect nothing. What should the pediatricians say or do?
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D032781:Codes of Ethics; D003440:Croup / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004825:Epiglottis / Q000473:pathology; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D002534:Hypoxia, Brain / Q000209:etiology*; D007827:Laryngitis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D008318:Malpractice; D028681:Moral Obligations; D010344:Patient Advocacy