Subject
Child; Humans; United States; Parental Consent; Pediatrics; Withholding Treatment; Social Values; Intensive Care; Minors; Tissue and Organ Procurement; Ethics; Uncertainty; Medical; adolescent; Preschool; Professional Patient Relationship; infant; ICU Decision Making; Critical Illness/psychology; Judicial Role; Value of Life
Description
Advanced technology and better scientific understanding of mechanisms of disease now permit intensive care personnel to extend life beyond what some patients and families consider reasonable, leading, in part, to the "patients' rights" movement and the articulation of legal and moral guidelines for foregoing life support. In the case of pediatrics, commentaries on a few of the topics that have arisen most frequently or have provided the greatest challenge in the authors' experience are provided.
1994