Parens Patriae and Parental Rights: When Should the State Override Parental Medical Decisions?

Alfie Evans was a terminally ill British child whose parents, clinging to hope, were desperately trying to save his life. Hospital authorities disagreed and petitioned the court to enjoin the parents from removing him and taking him elsewhere for treatment. The court stepped in and compelled the hospital to discontinue life support and claimed that further treatment was not in the child's best interest. This note discusses the heartbreaking stories of Alfie and two other children whose parents' medical decisions on their behalf were overridden by the court. It argues that courts should never decide that death is in a child's best interest and compel parents to withdraw life support from their children. Such a decision is outside the scope of the judiciary. Furthermore, it argues that even in those instances when the court may or must intervene, a new framework is necessary because the current framework used by the court to determine the best interest of the child ignores fundamental realities of child psychology. Too often, as a result of the court's mistaken framework, the court illegitimately trespasses into the parental domain. By adopting a new framework, the court will intervene only when actual abuse or neglect is suspected. In all other cases, judicial restraint will be practiced and the court will show greater deference to the parents' wishes.

[The growing importance of ethics in medical care and research]. / Die wachsende Bedeutung von medizinischer Ethik in Versorgung und Forschung.

The integration of medical humanities into future patient care and medical research will become as importance for trust, care and health as the natural sciences were during the last 100 years. In particular, improvements of lay health literacy and responsibility, new forms of physician-nurse partnership and expert-lay interaction, also revisions of clinical research towards models of informed contract will improve trust and health on a global scale, allow for healthier and happier citizens and populations and eventually might reduce health care costs.

[Discontinuing parenteral nutrition, patient self-determination and legal sanctions in treatment limitations. On the legal questions of physician-assisted death]. / Einstellung von Sondenernährung, Patientenverfügung und gerichtliche Genehmigung der Therapiebegrenzung. Zu Rechtsfragen ärztlicher Sterbehilfe.

Since the Federal High Court decided the "Case of Kempten" in 1994, German Law allows discontinuation of life-sustaining treatment even when the patient's life could be extended by a number of months. Unfortunately, the court gives little normative criteria regarding the conditions under which "helping to die" is legal. Instead of such criteria, the will of the patient is underlined as being decisive. Therefore, the legal problems have shifted to the determination of the patient's will and substituted consent; written living will, power of attorney and consent of the court have become more important within the law of euthanasia. Along with a general description of the legal limits of euthanasia, the scope of application of these civil law institutes will be discussed.

Care of critically ill newborns in India. Legal and ethical issues.

PIP: The nature of neonatal care in India is changing. While the quality of care will most likely improve as the economy grows, the eventual scope of change remains to be seen. Attitudinal and behavioral changes, in addition to better economic conditions, are needed to realize more appropriate interventions in neonatal care. Economic, cultural, religious, social, political, and other considerations may limit or affect neonatal care, especially for ELBW infants or infants with congenital malformations or brain injury. Various protections for critically ill newborns exist under Indian law and the Constitution of India. New laws are being enacted to enhance the level of protection conferred, including laws which ban amniocentesis for sex determination and define brain death in connection with the use of human organs for therapeutic purposes. The applicability of consumer protection laws to medical care is also being addressed. It is noted, however, that India lacks a multidisciplinary bioethics committee. An effort should be made to discuss the legal and ethical issues regarding the care of critically ill newborns, with discussions considering religious, cultural, traditional, and family values. Legal and ethical guidelines should be developed by institutions, medical councils, and society specific to newborn care, and medical, nursing, and other paramedical schools should include these issues as part of the required coursework. Physicians, nurses, philosophers, and attorneys with expertise in law and ethics should develop and teach these courses. Such measures over the long term will ensure that future health care providers are exposed to these issues, ideally with a view toward enhancing patient care.^ieng