Ethical Challenges in Pediatric Medical Complexity: A Survey of Parents

To understand parents' experiences of ethical challenges in the care of children with chronic and serious medical conditions and what resources they access for support.

We recruited English-speaking parents of children with complex and serious medical conditions via family advocacy groups to complete an electronic survey from October 2022 through February 2023. We queried respondents' experiences with specific ethical challenges in the care of their child, whether their concerns persisted, and what resources they accessed. Respondents also reported demographics, educational backgrounds, financial resources, and their child's medical needs.

Two hundred eighteen parents completed surveys. Parents reported experiencing each of the 15 presented ethical challenges with varying frequency. More than half of parents reported residual distress in 6 of 15 ethical challenges. Demographic variables (gender, relationship status, time since medical challenge, and ethnicity) were not associated with level of distress related to ethical challenges. When facing challenges, respondents most commonly communicated with family members, friends, doctors, and other parents of children with medical problems, accessed the internet, and relied on their instincts or prayer/meditation.

Parents of children with medical complexity experience ethical challenges in the care of their children, although covering a broader range of experiences than typically considered by clinicians to have ethical dimensions. Many of these challenges leave residual distress. The resources that families report accessing to navigate these challenges are ones that typically do not have training, background, or specificity to medical ethics.