Do Doctors Want To Err On The Side Of Death Over Life?

Thus report has some points going for it and addresses the thorny issues of futile care for children. However, reading it I couldn’t shake the notion that the medicos who wrote the report are erring on the side of death over life.

Deeply held religious beliefs prompting sick kids to be given 'futile' treatment

Hopes of 'miraculous intervention' causing children to suffer needlessly, say doctors.

Parental hopes of a "miraculous intervention," prompted by deeply held religious beliefs, are leading to very sick children being subjected to futile care and needless suffering, suggests a small study in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

The authors, who comprise children's intensive care doctors and a hospital chaplain, emphasise that religious beliefs provide vital support to many parents whose children are seriously ill, as well as to the staff who care for them.

But they have become concerned that deeply held beliefs are increasingly leading parents to insist on the continuation of aggressive treatment that ultimately is not in the best interests of the sick child.

It is time to review the current ethics and legality of these cases, they say. more