Harm Principle in Pediatric Ethics
Only intervene when there’s significant harm.
four pillars of medical ethics
- beneficence: act in the best interest of the patient
- non-maleficence: do no harm
- autonomy: respect the right of people to make decisions for themselves
- justice: seek fairness with what we do
…on children
- autonomy is very adult centric… “substituted judgment is hard”
- altruistic surrogacy: act in the children’ best interest
- altruism: doesn’t require the consent / knowledge of others + doing something for someone else