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Ethical dilemmas in pediatric endocrinology: growth hormone for short normal children
1Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA. macklin@aecom.yu.edu
Insights
Synthetic growth hormone (GH) for short normal children raises ethical concerns regarding enhancement versus treatment. This analysis explores whether administering GH to non-deficient children is ethically permissible.
Area of Science:
- Medical Ethics
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Bioethics
Background:
- Synthetic growth hormone (GH) administration to short normal children presents complex ethical dilemmas.
- Key ethical issues include treatment appropriateness without disease, research uncertainty, risk-benefit analysis, and decision-making authority.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if GH administration to short normal children constitutes 'enhancement'.
- To evaluate the ethical implications of using GH for non-medical enhancement purposes.
Main Methods:
- Ethical analysis of current medical and research literature.
- Framework development for evaluating enhancement technologies in pediatrics.
Main Results:
- The use of GH for short stature in otherwise healthy children is increasingly viewed as enhancement.
- Significant ethical challenges arise from distinguishing between therapy and enhancement.
Conclusions:
- GH administration for enhancement in normal short children warrants careful ethical scrutiny.
- Decisions regarding non-therapeutic GH use require robust ethical frameworks and societal consensus.
Abstract:
Ethical questions surrounding the administration of synthetic growth hormone (GH) to short normal children can be grouped into the following four categories: 1) appropriateness of medical treatment when no disease or biological deficiency is present; 2) how to proceed in the face of ambiguity or uncertainty of research results; 3) difficulty in weighing the risks and benefits of treatment; and 4) who should decide? This article seeks to determine whether GH administration to normal short children is properly considered an 'enhancement', and, if so, whether such treatment would be ethically wrong.