Bonete Román MC, Campos Rivera G. [The Death of Children: Ethical dilemmas about the limitation of therapeutic effort].
J Healthc Qual Res 2023;
38:180-185. [PMID:
36646591 DOI:
10.1016/j.jhqr.2022.11.010]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2022] [Revised: 11/02/2022] [Accepted: 11/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
Ethical dilemmas take importance in current medical practice, especially at the end of life. Limitation of therapeutic effort, understood as not starting or withdrawing life support measures, is an alternative to preserve patient dignity when death approaches. Ethical dilemmas in this context have been widely studied in adults; not in children, in which the big psychological tension experienced by parents and professionals makes difficult to take accepted and consensual ethical decisions. The objective of this work has been to understand the concept of limitation of therapeutic effort and the deontological principles that support them in the pediatric field. The purpose was none other than to establish improvements in dying children whom peculiar life-end makes necessary a different approach of adults and an ethical conceptual clarification which justify LET practice in youngers.
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