Medical ethics for children: applying the four principles to paediatrics.
I will argue that there are difficulties with the application of the four principles approach to incompetent children. The most important principle - respect for autonomy - is not directly applicable to incompetent children and the most appropriate modification of the principle for them is not clear. The principle of beneficence - that one should act in the child's interests - is complicated by difficulties in assessing what a child's interests are and to which standard of interests those choosing for children should be held. A further problem with the four principles approach is that parental authority does not follow clearly from the four principles.
Baines
P
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Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital, Eaton Rd, Liverpool L12 2AP, UK. pbb@liv.ac.uk
D001318:Authoritarianism; D002648:Child; D002651:Child Advocacy / Q000941:ethics*; D004739:England; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000941:ethics*; D033242:Minors; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D026706:Paternalism / Q000941:ethics; D028701:Patient Rights / Q000941:ethics*; D016312:Treatment Refusal / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D014611:Vaccination / Q000941:ethics