Ethics, Conflict and Medical Treatment for Children: From Disagreement to Dissensus 2018

What should happen when doctors and parents disagree on what would be best for the child? When should the courts be involved? Should life support be terminated against the wishes of the parents? The Charlie Gard case gained global attention in 2017 and sparked a wide-ranging debate about the ethics of disputes between doctors and parents, the place of the law in such disputes and the differences in approach between different parts of the world. In this book, medical ethicists Dominic Wilkinson and Julian Savulescu critically examine the ethical issues at the heart of disputes over the treatment of children. They use the Gard case as a springboard for a wider discussion of parental rights, the harms of treatment and the key issue of limited resources. They discuss other well-known UK and international cases of misunderstanding and conflict. Wilkinson and Savulescu provocatively present the strongest arguments for and against treatment. They analyse some of the distinctive and challenging features of treatment disputes in the 21st century and argue that disagreement over controversial ethical issues is both inevitable and desirable. The content reviews prominent cases of disagreement in the UK and internationally and analyses some of the distinctive and difficult features of treatment disputes in the 21st century. The book proposes a radical new framework for future disputes over the care of seriously ill people.