title: Examining the complementarity of 'children's rights' and 'bioethics' moral frameworks in pediatric health care.
abstract: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has inspired numerous initiatives to recognize children's health-related rights. Whereas children's rights have served as the dominant moral framework for child health concerns in Europe, pediatric bioethics has emerged as the principal framework used in North America. Despite their similarities, these two frameworks differ significantly. Children's rights initiatives tend to be universalist, highlighting substantive standards for all children, while pediatric bioethics has developed norms, models, and procedures for the ethical analysis and management of individual cases. The aim of this article is to critically examine the respective contributions and intersections of children's rights and pediatric bioethics moral frameworks in child health. We describe our collaboration bridging our work with these two frameworks to address pediatric health-care concerns in the Republic of Georgia. We conclude with recommendations for how the complementarity of these two frameworks can be further bridged and promoted internationally.
authors.affiliation: 1 Pediatric Ethics Committee, Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Franco A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Carnevale
authors.affiliation: 2 Clinical Skills Center, Tbilisi State Medical University, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.
authors.forename: Irma
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Manjavidze
keywords: Best interests; Republic of Georgia; children’s rights; pediatric bioethics