Does Pediatric Healthcare Need Department-Specific Ethicists?

By Brianne Helfrich Pediatric healthcare is different — parental involvement in decision-making, the heightened pressure to “save a child”, and the emerging voices of pediatric patients make this field uniquely challenging. From an ethics perspective, these cases can be complex and emotionally charged. Clinicians often delicately balance the wishes of the families, patients and organizational […]

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In the best interests of the child – reporting restrictions in serious medical treatment cases

By Helen Turnham and Dominic Wilkinson Following the release of the judgment in Abbasi and Haastrup [2023] EWCA Civ 331 Abbasi and another (Respondents) v Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Appellant); Haastrup (Respondent) v King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Appellant) – UK Supreme Court, April 2025, a ripple of conversation and concern […]

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The delicate balance between aggressive treatments and palliative care

By Ilaria Bertini. In recent months the story of Indi Gregory has been brought to light by the media as another dreadful story of life and death involving a critically ill 8-month-old baby with no prospect of recovery. When Indi was born, she was admitted as a PICU patient at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham […]

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Pig hearts and paediatrics: how children will require distinctive ethical approaches when xenotransplantation becomes a reality

By Anthony Merlocco Due to the ongoing struggle to obtain organs for those in need, and the resulting morbidity and mortality while awaiting organs, renewed efforts to study transplantation between species, or xenotransplantation (XTx), have emerged. Gene editing has been used to enhance human graft survival or to make animal organs better suited for a […]

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