The Suffering Child: Claims of Suffering in Seminal Cases and What To Do About Them. Pediatrics 2020 Aug;146(Suppl 1):S66-S69
Date
08/02/2020Pubmed ID
32737235DOI
10.1542/peds.2020-0818MScopus ID
2-s2.0-85089127945 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 3 CitationsAbstract
In all of medicine, there is perhaps nothing so distressing as bearing witness to a patient's suffering, especially if that patient is a child. We want to do everything that we can to avoid or alleviate a child's suffering, yet what do clinicians, ethicists, lawyers, or family members mean when they use the term "suffering," and how should these claims of suffering factor into pediatric decision-making? This question of suffering and what to do about it has played a key role in several prominent pediatric cases over the past decade, including the cases of Charlie Gard, Alfie Evans, and Baby Joseph. These cases have become seminal cases precisely because there is no clear resolution, and the "suffering child" continues to challenge our moral ideals of what it means to live a good life. In this article, I explore the various ways in which the concept of suffering is used in these cases, and I offer new ways in which parents, providers, and all those who work with sick children can approach the suffering child.
Author List
Friedrich ABAuthor
Annie B. Friedrich PhD Assistant Professor in the Institute for Health and Equity department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Clinical Decision-MakingHistory, 21st Century
Humans
Infant
Leigh Disease
Male
Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathies
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Ontario
Parents
Persistent Vegetative State
Quality of Life
Respiration, Artificial
Stress, Psychological
Terminology as Topic
Tracheostomy
United Kingdom
Withholding Treatment
