THEORY AND PRACTICE OF PEDIATRIC BIOETHICS

This article examines two typical bioethics frameworks: the Four Principles by Beauchamp and Childress, and the Four Boxes by Jonsen, Siegler, and Winslade. I show how they are inadequate to address the ethical issues raised by pediatrics, in part because they do not pay adequate attention to families. I then consider an alternate framework proposed by Buchanan and Brock that focuses on four questions that must be addressed for the patient who lacks decisional capacity. This model also does not give adequate respect for the family, particularly the intimate family. I then describe my own framework, which provides answers to Buchanan and Brock's four questions in a way that is consistent with the intimate family and its need for protection from state intervention.