Response from the ethics committee of Wolfson Children's Hospital (Jacksonville, Florida)
In summary, our HEC believes that the medical staff and family made an appropriate decision to withdraw therapy following a thorough procedural review. However, we also believe that had the HEC been reapproached on learning that the medical resident's comments were overheard, the unwanted and unnecessary governmental intrusion could have been avoided. Government intervention in this case led to legal entanglements as well as unwanted publicity. In the end, the parents' decision was upheld by the child protection agency and the courts. A more timely re-review with the HEC might have prevented a five-week delay in carrying out an ethically appropriate and permissible decision.
University of Florida Health Science Center, Jacksonville 32209.
R
R
Cooper
D003219:Confidentiality; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D017041:Ethics Committees / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005066:Euthanasia, Passive; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D014481:United States