Recommendations from this study include reviewing professional policies and guidance to ensure greater consistency; developing a “toolkit” for health professionals to use to assess children’s competence; introducing courses/seminars for children, parents and health professionals to raise awareness and knowledge of the law; and amending or introducing a new law to better embed the rights of competent children to consent, or refuse, treatment.

In recent decades, advances in biomedical research have helped save or lengthen the lives of children around the world. With improved therapies, child and adolescent mortality rates have decreased significantly in the last half century. Despite these advances, pediatricians and others argue that children have not shared equally with adults in biomedical advances. Even though we want children to benefit from the dramatic and accelerating rate of progress in medical care that has been fueled by scientific research, we do not want to place children at risk of being harmed by participating in clinical studies. Ethical Conduct of Clinical Research Involving Children considers the necessities and challenges of this type of research and reviews the ethical and legal standards for conducting it. It also considers problems with the interpretation and application of these standards and conduct, concluding that while children should not be excluded from potentially beneficial clinical studies, some research that is ethically permissible for adults is not acceptable for children, who usually do not have the legal capacity or maturity to make informed decisions about research participation. The book looks at the need for appropriate pediatric expertise at all stages of the design, review, and conduct of a research project to effectively implement policies to protect children. It argues persuasively that a robust system for protecting human research participants in general is a necessary foundation for protecting child research participants in particular.

An understanding of medical law is increasingly important for all health professionals and this new ABC provides a basic introduction to the legal issues faced in health care that is accessible to anyone without any legal knowledge. The ABC of Medical Law provides ideal guidance to the practicing physician - covering just what you need to know without becoming embroiled in complicated legal discussion. The ABC of Medical Law has up-to-date coverage of the legal issues to be found in daily medical practice, including confidentiality, research, consent, negligence, organ donation and human rights, as well as more contentious issues such as tissue retention and withholding/withdrawing treatment. Well illustrated and presented in a user-friendly format, chapters include summaries and cases to help clarify the points made. Written by practising clinicians with expertise in medical law and a medical barrister, the ABC of Medical Law will help keep a practice within the constraints of the law and is ideal for GPs, junior doctors and medical students, and anyone wanting to understand the broad basics of medical law. This title is also available as a mobile App from MedHand Mobile Libraries. Buy it now from Google Play or the MedHand Store.

Setting the scene -- Best interests and consent -- Refusal of consent -- Withholding and withdrawing treatment from infants and young children -- Medical research and innovative treatment -- Best interests between children : donation of tissues and organs and conjoined twins.

This book seeks to support social science researchers who interact with vulnerability and/or sensitivity in the context of their research. Whilst there has been some important debate about the theoretical, methodological and ethical issues of conducting research on sensitive topics, and/or with vulnerable populations, the number of scholarly publications focused solely on these topics is limited and not up to date. The book intends to fill this gap by providing various research experiences, as well as the elements that characterize them. The articles selected for this book intend, first and foremost, to stimulate reflexivity amongst the use of the concepts of sensitive topics and vulnerable groups, and to provide tools that will allow researchers to improve their research practices The book integrates several articles that explore a wide range of dilemmas that, to a certain extent, might allow the reader to access the backstage of this type of research. The reader will find here a rich and fruitful space for theoretical and empirical reflection, where several social science researchers with different backgrounds share their experiences and research paths in a rigorous and creative way.

When are children old enough to understand medical information? When are they mature enough to make wise decisions in their best interests? This book explores these questions through detailed qualitative research. It is based on in-depth interviews with children undergoing surgery, their parents and many of the staff caring for them in four city hospitals. In their own words, the child patients challenge many of the accepted ideas about their rights, interests and abilities.

This book examines how developing law and policies in England and Wales simultaneously promote and undermine children's rights.

This concise manual offers best practice guidance on dental treatment of pediatric patients with special health care needs (CSHCN). The straightforward approaches described will enable clinicians to deliver high-quality, patient-centered care to children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Readers will find up-to-date information on case-based treatment planning, alternative caries management strategies, the use of behavioral and pharmacological interventions to facilitate delivery of quality treatment, and a team approach to care. Practical clinical tips are provided on how to achieve and maintain oral health, including good oral hygiene and nutrition. A systematic framework for patient assessment and interaction with medical colleagues will assist readers in understanding when dental protocols must be altered. Other important topics include techniques for effective communication with CSHCN, behavioral strategies to improve treatment acceptance, the role of occupational therapy techniques, the sensory adapted dental environment, and the use protective stabilization.

This book aims to assess how children are regarded by lawyers in disciplines which centrally involve them.

How can medical law and ethics take forward the issue of children's empowerment and protection? What are the key factors in considering the balance between protecting the welfare of the young and allowing them rights to autonomy? The Child as Vulnerable Patient investigates the role that a human rights approach can play in establishing the parameters of autonomy and discusses the opportunities presented in the Human Rights Act, the European Convention on the Rights of the Child and new policy initiatives in the NHS. A valuable addition to existing literature in this area, this volume will be of interest to lawyers, health professionals and students of medical law.