Withdrawal of treatment from critically ill children: legal and ethical issues
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Withdrawal of treatment from critically ill children: legal and ethical issues

Alison Taylor Senior Lecturer, School of Health Sciences, University of Brighton, England

Withdrawal of treatment from critically ill children is a contentious and ethically difficult area. The principle of best interests was central to three recent high-profile legal cases and raised questions about how this is demonstrated in healthcare for children whose treatment may be of no benefit to them.

This article discusses the legal and ethical aspects of caring for such children. Nurses are important advocates and should balance their obligation to deliver holistic and family-centred care with that of keeping the child as the central focus, particularly with decision-making. In cases of disagreement between families and clinicians, children’s voices are particularly vulnerable to being lost. Pre- and post-registration education, research and a higher profile for nurses in multidisciplinary decision-making are suggested as ways to improve the nursing contribution to this important debate.

Nursing Children and Young People. doi: 10.7748/ncyp.2019.e1224

Peer review

This article has been subject to open peer review and has been checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

a.taylor7@brighton.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Taylor A (2019) Withdrawal of treatment from critically ill children: legal and ethical issues. Nursing Children and Young People. doi: 10.7748/ncyp.2019.e1224

Published online: 04 September 2019

Want to read more?

RCNi-Plus
Already have access? Log in

or

3-month trial offer for £5.25/month

Subscribe today and save 50% on your first three months
RCNi Plus users have full access to the following benefits:
  • Unlimited access to all 10 RCNi Journals
  • RCNi Learning featuring over 175 modules to easily earn CPD time
  • NMC-compliant RCNi Revalidation Portfolio to stay on track with your progress
  • Personalised newsletters tailored to your interests
  • A customisable dashboard with over 200 topics
Subscribe

Alternatively, you can purchase access to this article for the next seven days. Buy now


Are you a student? Our student subscription has content especially for you.
Find out more