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Telling the truth to young children: Ethical reasons for information disclosure in paediatrics

Nicholas Hudson1,2, Merle Spriggs1,3, Lynn Gillam1,3

  • 1Children's Bioethics Centre, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health
|September 11, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Doctors face ethical dilemmas when parents restrict information disclosure to children. This paper outlines ethical arguments for truth-telling to pediatric patients, especially pre-adolescents, regardless of decision-making capacity.

Area of Science:

  • Medical Ethics
  • Pediatric Patient Rights
  • Informed Consent

Background:

  • Parents may request non-disclosure of medical information to their children.
  • This creates ethical challenges for physicians regarding patient disclosure.
  • Existing guidelines are unclear for pre-adolescent (immature minor) information-giving.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To map the professional and legal context of information-giving to children.
  • To identify key ethical arguments supporting disclosure to child patients.
  • To explore ethical reasons for truth-telling to pre-adolescent children.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of professional and legal landscapes.
  • Analysis of ethical arguments for information disclosure.
  • Focus on pre-adolescent children (immature minors).

Main Results:

  • Six ethical reasons for telling the truth to younger children were identified.
  • Disclosure is supported by ethical arguments independent of decision-making capacity.
  • The professional and legal landscape for pediatric information-giving is complex.

Conclusions:

  • Physicians have ethical obligations to disclose information to pediatric patients.
  • Truth-telling to children is ethically justifiable, even for pre-adolescents.
  • Ethical reasons for disclosure exist beyond the child's capacity for shared decision-making.

Keywords:
bioethicschildcommunicationdisclosurepaediatricstruth

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