Ethics and the pediatric surgeon

Ethical aspects of care in the newborn surgical patient

This article places focus on three main subjects that are all related to the ethical aspects of care of newborns undergoing major surgical interventions. The first concerns the communication between the surgeon, as a representative of the treatment team, and the parents. The second is the way to handle new developments in neonatal surgery. The third issue covers several aspects of the ethical decision-making process with regard to forgoing life support in surgical neonates. These issues will be discussed on the basis of two clinical case reports.

The mature minor: some critical psychological reflections on the empirical bases

Moral and legal notions engaged in clinical ethics should not only possess analytic clarity but a sound basis in empirical findings. The latter condition brings into question the expansion of the mature minor exception. The mature minor exception in the healthcare law of the United States has served to enable those under the legal age to consent to medical treatment. Although originally developed primarily for minors in emergency or quasi-emergency need for health care, it was expanded especially from the 1970s in order to cover unemancipated minors older than 14 years. This expansion initially appeared plausible, given psychological data that showed the intellectual capacity of minors over 14 to recognize the causal connection between their choices and the consequences of their choices. However, subsequent psychological studies have shown that minors generally fail to have realistic affective and evaluative appreciations of the consequences of their decisions, because they tend to over-emphasize short-term benefits and underestimate long-term risks. Also, unlike most decisionmakers over 21, the decisions of minors are more often marked by the lack of adequate impulse control, all of which is reflected in the far higher involvement of adolescents in acts of violence, intentional injury, and serious automobile accidents. These effects are more evident in circumstances that elicit elevated affective responses. The advent of brain imaging has allowed the actual visualization of qualitative differences between how minors versus persons over the age of 21 generally assess risks and benefits and make decisions. In the case of most under the age of 21, subcortical systems fail adequately to be checked by the prefrontal systems that are involved in adult executive decisions. The neuroanatomical and psychological model developed by Casey, Jones, and Summerville offers an empirical insight into the qualitative differences in the neuroanatomical and neuropsychological bases of adolescent versus adult decision making. These and other data, as well as developing law bearing on the culpability of juvenile criminal offenders, argue for critically re-evaluating the expansion of the mature minor exception with regard to medical decision making, as well as in support of a rebuttable presumption in favor of treating minors as immature decisionmakers. The clinical ethics of adolescent medical decision making will need foundationally to be reconsidered.

Experience of moral distress among pediatric surgery trainees

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to identify and qualify the ethical dilemmas faced by pediatric surgery trainees.

METHODS

An online survey was sent to pediatric surgery trainees graduating between 2005 and 2008. Consent was obtained, and study investigators were blinded to the identity of the respondents during data analysis.

RESULTS

Of the 40 respondents, only 59% felt they had received adequate training in bioethics to handle ethical issues pertaining to the care of critically ill children. Although 83% of respondents routinely participated in palliative care discussions, 30% of respondents desired to have more opportunities to discuss end-of-life issues with their staff. Moral conflicts were resolved through direct discussions with the medical staff, family, or friends. Despite the presence and awareness of institutional policies on ethical behavior, 58% of respondents did not believe that ethical conflicts were resolved as a result of these policies, whereas 31% of respondents felt that reporting of unethical conduct would result in personal reprisals.

CONCLUSION

Pediatric surgery trainees face ethical and moral conflicts, but some are fearful of reprisals if these concerns are reported. A neutral forum to raise such issues may facilitate open discussions and eventual resolution of these conflicts.