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Pediatric Bioethics Reading List
Below is a list of key articles and publications for those interested in learning more about pediatric bioethics.
Confidentiality
AMA Council on Judicial Affairs. Confidential health services for adolescents. JAMA 1993;269:1420-1424.
AAP Committee on Adolescence. Counseling the adolescent about pregnancy options. Pediatrics 1998;101:938-940.
Campbell, AT. Consent, competence, and confidentiality related to psychiatric conditions in adolescent medicine practice. Adolesc Med Clin. 2006;17:25-47.
Decision making in pediatrics
AAP Committee on Bioethics. Religious objections to medical care. Pediatrics. 1997;99(2):279-281.
AAP Committee on Bioethics. Sterilization of minors with developmental disabilities. Pediatrics. 1999;104(2):337-340.
Diekema D. Parental refusals of medical treatment: The harm principle as threshold for state intervention. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics. 2004;25(4):463-464.
Do not resuscitate
AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. Guidelines for the appropriate use of do-not-resuscitate orders. JAMA 1991;265:1868-1871.
Fallat ME et al. Do not resuscitate orders for the pediatric patients who require anesthesia and surgery. Pediatrics 2004;114:1686-1692.
Ethics committees
Aulisio, Arnold, Younger for the Society for Health and Human Values — A position paper from Society for Health and Human Values — Society for Bioethics Consultation Task Force on Standards of Bioethics Consultation. Health care ethics consultation: Nature, goals, and competencies. Ann Intern Med. 2000;133(1):59-69.
AAP Committee on Bioethics. Institutional Ethics Committees. Pediatrics. 2001;107(1):205-209.
Medical futility/limitations of medical intervention
AAP Committee on Bioethics. Ethics and the care of critically ill infants and children. Pediatrics 1996;98:149-52.
AAP Committee on Bioethics. Guidelines on foregoing life-sustaining medical treatment. Pediatrics 1994;93:532-536.
AAP Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect, AAP Committee on Bioethics. Forgoing life-sustaining medical treatment in abused children. Pediatrics. 2000;106(5):1151-1153.
Nelson LJ, Nelson RM. Ethics and the provision of futile, harmful, or burdensome treatment to children. Crit Care Med 1992;20:427-433.
Pellegrino ED. Decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatment: a moral algorithm. JAMA 2000;283:1065-1067.
Walters JW. Approaches to ethical decision making in the neonatal intensive care unit. Am J Dis Child 1988;142:825-830.
Genetics (testing, etc.)
AAP Committee on Bioethics. Ethical issues with genetic testing in pediatrics. Pediatrics. 2001;107(6):1451-1455.
American Society of Human Genetics, American College of Medical Genetics. Points to consider: ethical, legal, and psychosocial implications of genetic testing in children and adolescents. Am J Hum Genet 1995;57:1233-1241.
Informed consent/assent
AAP Committee on Bioethics. Informed consent, parental permission, and assent in pediatric practice. Pediatrics. 1995;95(2):314-317.
Medically provided hydration and nutrition
Johnson J. Responding to parental requests to forgo pediatric nutrient and hydration. J Clin Ethics. 2000;11(2):128-135.
Nelson et al. Forgoing medically provided nutrition and hydration in pediatric patients. J Law Med Ethics. 1995;23:33-46.
Palliative care
AAP Committee on Bioethics, AAP Committee on Hospital Care. Palliative care for children. Pediatrics. 2000;106(2):351-357.
AAP Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health. The pediatrician and childhood bereavement. Pediatrics 2000;105:445-447.
Levetown M. Ethical aspects of pediatric palliative care. J Palliat Care 1996;12(3):35-39.
Research ethics
Robinson W. Ethical issues in pediatric research. J Clin Ethics. 2000;11(2):145-150.
Etzel RA and the APA Research Committee. Ensuring integrity for research with children. Ambul Pediatr 2005;5:3-5.
Glantz LH. Research with children. Am J Law Med 1998;213-244.
Severe CNS injury/brain death
Multi-Society Task Force on Persistent Vegetative State. Medical aspects of the persistent vegetative state. NEJM 1994;330:1572-1579.
Farrell M et al. Brain death in the pediatric patient: Historical, sociological, medical, religious, cultural, legal, and ethical considerations. Crit Care Med 1993; 21(12): 1951-1965.
Spiritual, cultural, and religious issues
Barnes et al. Spirituality, religion, and pediatrics: intersecting worlds of healing. Pediatrics 2000; 106(suppl): 899-908.
Orr RD et al. Cross-cultural considerations in clinical ethics consultations. Arch Fam Med 1995; 4: 159-164.
Transplant ethics and resource allocation
AMA, Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. Ethical consideration in the allocation of organs and other scarce medical resources among patients. Arch Intern Med 1995; 155: 29-40.
Price DP. Minors as living donors: ethics and law. Transplant Proc 1996; 28: 3607-3608.
