[Medicine and ethical status of children].
Ill children are doubly vulnerable: because they are children and because they are ill. That justified a protective ethics, which was traditionally a paternalistic one. Today, we want to promote children's autonomy: they have the right to be informed and we look for their consent (when it is possible). But it is difficult to reconcile protection and autonomy. By describing the origin of the current vision of childhood, the author tries to show the roots of these difficulties.
Amann
Jean-Paul
JP
Collège de France, Paris. jean-paul.amann@college-de-france.fr
D002648:Child; D002651:Child Advocacy; D026690:Ethics, Clinical; D006801:Humans; D028701:Patient Rights