Ethics 2 - Children

Question 1

What do children need to demonstrate to show they can make an autonomous decision?

Answer 1

• Understand information
• Formulate values to weigh up information
• Make a decision without feeling under influence (eg. from parents)
• Usually by the age of 15 (8-15) children can make autonomous decision making

Question 2

List the problems with childrens choices

Answer 2

• Congative ability (understanding the impact of decisions)
• Psychological maturity (independent decisions)
• Values, belief and aspirations (will they want the same thing in 10 years?)

Question 3

When is the prefrontal cortex functional?

Answer 3

By the age of 4 - planning and reasoning. Fully develops in older children (16)

Question 4

What is the Hannah Jones case?

Answer 4

• Girl aged 13 (had been in and out of hospital from age 4) refused a heart transplant, as there was risk of rejection and leukaemia
• Later changed her mind and got the heart transplant after being deemed autonomous

Question 5

What is the Ashya King case?

Answer 5

5 year old boy, medulloblastoma, parents wanted proton beam therapy instead of radiotherapy so took him from the hospital to Malaga. He had a feeding tube and posterior fossa syndrome from surgery. Court ended up granting NHS funding.

Question 6

Should autonomous children have the same rights as autonomous adults?

Answer 6

• Duty of responsibility to protect children until adulthood
• Adults make bad decisions, and their values can change
• Adults don’t necessarily think of the implications of our decisions

Question 7

List the interests we have in childrens care

Answer 7

• Basic interests (basic physical and emotional health)
• Developmental interests (child developing into an adult, developing social skills, education and confidence)
• Autonomy interests (promoting development of autonomy, important from an early age)

Question 8

What happens when the three interests in childrens care conflict?

Answer 8

Autonomy must be overridden when there is confliction so they can become autonomous adults. As children mature more weight should be given to autonomous decisions

Question 9

What is parental autonomy?

Answer 9

• Parents have a right to make a decision about their child (they have their own views and beliefs)
• Parents are best placed to know the childs best interests (they know their child best)
• However, parents are so emotionally involved they may not be able to objectively weigh up the benefits and burdens of the treatment
• Parents personal views may lead them to consider effective treatments as unacceptable
• Parents decisions should only be respected if in the childs best interests

Question 10

What are non-therapeutic interventions?

Answer 10

• Organ and tissue donation

- Non-therapeutic research (no direct benefit - medical research)

Question 11

List the benefits and risks of tissue donation

Answer 11

Benefits

• Altruism
• Fave a siblings life
• The child may feel guilty in the future if the sibling dies due to lack of a donor

Risks

• Physical harm to donor with no direct medical benefit
• If the transplant fails, the child may grow up feeling it is their fault