title: Withholding Information to Protect a Loved One.
abstract: Parents respond to the death of a child in very different ways. Some parents may be violent or angry, some sad and tearful, some quiet and withdrawn, and some frankly delusional. We present a case in which a father's reaction to his daughter's death is a desire to protect his wife from the stressful information. The wife is in the second trimester of a high-risk pregnancy and so is particularly fragile. We asked pediatricians and bioethicists to discuss the ways in which they might respond to the father's understandable but troubling request.
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
authors.forename: Todd J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Kilbaugh
authors.affiliation: Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota;
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Groll
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
authors.forename: Wynne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.affiliation: Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia; and.
authors.forename: Nabina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Liebow
authors.affiliation: Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri jlantos@cmh.edu.
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Lantos
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003643:Death; D005195:Family Relations / Q000523:psychology; D005220:Fathers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011247:Pregnancy; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D014342:Truth Disclosure / Q000941:ethics*