title: Resisting the siren call of individualism in pediatric decision-making and the role of relational interests.
abstract: The siren call of individualism is compelling. And although we have recognized its dangerous allure in the realm of adult decision-making, it has had profound and yet unnoticed dangerous effects in pediatric decision-making as well. Liberal individualism as instantiated in the best interest standard conceptualizes the child as independent and unencumbered and the goal of child rearing as rational autonomous adulthood, a characterization that is both ontologically false and normatively dangerous. Although a notion of the individuated child might have a place in establishing a threshold of care obligated and enforced by the state, beyond this context we should turn our attention more explicitly to the relational interests of children.
authors.affiliation: *Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics, 3545 Lafayette Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63104, USA. esalter@slu.edu.
authors.forename: Erica K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Salter
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D057828:Informed Consent By Minors; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D028701:Patient Rights; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000941:ethics*; D010686:Philosophy, Medical
keywords: best interests standard; individualism; pediatric decision-making