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Obliging children

Barry Lyons1

  • 1Centre for Ethics and Social Policy, School of Law, University of Manchester, UK. barry.lyons@postgrad.manchestor.ac.uk

Medical Law Review
|February 4, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Children may be subjected to medical procedures for others' benefit, like bone marrow donation or non-therapeutic research. The "obligation model" justifying this is flawed, masking a conflict between parental rights and a child's bodily integrity.

Area of Science:

  • Bioethics
  • Medical Law
  • Child Welfare

Background:

  • Children sometimes face medical interventions not for their own health.
  • Examples include bone marrow donation and non-therapeutic research participation.
  • Justifications often cite children's obligations to family or society.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To critically analyze the 'obligation model' used to justify non-beneficial medical interventions on children.
  • To examine the ethical and legal implications of this model.
  • To clarify the conflict between parental rights and children's bodily integrity.

Main Methods:

  • Philosophical analysis of ethical justifications.
  • Examination of legal and moral concepts of obligation.
  • Deconstruction of the 'obligation model' using H.L.A. Hart's distinctions.

Main Results:

  • The 'obligation model' is based on a confusion between 'being under an obligation' and 'being obliged'.
  • This model serves as a 'justificatory gloss' for consequentialist decision-making.
  • It obscures the tension between parental authority and a child's right to bodily integrity.

Conclusions:

  • The 'obligation model' is an inadequate justification for subjecting children to non-therapeutic medical interventions.
  • A clearer understanding of obligation is needed in pediatric medical ethics.
  • Re-evaluating these interventions requires a transparent approach to parental rights versus child autonomy.

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