AMA adopts ethical guidance for health care decisions involving minors

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Helping families make clinically well-informed decisions for individual children is challenging when choices involve socially and culturally sensitive issues that can have enormous significance. In response, physicians gathered at the Interim Meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) approved a general framework to help physicians work with families to balance the child’s interests with the scope of parental authority.

“Few people know what they would do if faced with a life-altering medical situation involving their child,” said AMA Immediate Past President David O. Barbe, M.D. “When confronting their child’s unexpected diagnosis or uncertain prognosis, parents can struggle to balance their own hopes, fears, and value commitments with the consequences of a medical choice. They need help. The AMA’s new ethical framework emphasizes a shared decision making process where doctors help parents reach clarity and empower choices carefully tailored for each patient.”