Valid informed consent and participative decision-making in children with cancer and their parents: a report of the SIOP Working Committee on psychosocial issues in pediatric oncology.
This is the tenth official document of the SIOP Working Committee on psychosocial issues in pediatric oncology, instituted in 1991. It is addressed to the pediatric oncology community. Children clearly have a right to participate in medical decisions regarding their own treatment, based on the developmental level of the child. The objective of these guidelines is to encourage physicians to share with the child developmentally relevant medical information specific to that particular child's health status, in the context of the child's own culture, so that he or she can actively participate in the decision-making process regarding his or her own health. These guidelines, geared toward this objective, discuss the child's right to medical information, the parents' legal responsibility for but not exclusive right over the child's health, and ways of encouraging the younger child's active participation in his or her own health care at an age-appropriate level of understanding. For adolescents, there should be a full and legally mandated power to make their own decisions regarding medical treatment.
Spinetta
John J
JJ
Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA.
Masera
Giuseppe
G
Jankovic
Momcilo
M
Oppenheim
Daniel
D
Martins
Antonio Gentil
AG
Ben Arush
Myriam Weyl
MW
van Dongen-Melman
Jeanette
J
Epelman
Claudia
C
Medin
Gabriela
G
Pekkanen
Kirsti
K
Eden
Tim
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003657:Decision Making; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000941:ethics*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D010358:Patient Participation; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000941:ethics*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic