Ethical Issues In Pediatric Hematology Oncology

This book identifies the various ethical challenges that arise in pediatric hematology/oncology and provides the necessary tools to overcome these challenges. Aiming to expand upon and strengthen providers’ knowledge and experience in pediatric health care ethical issues, the text positions providers to be beneficial resources to faculty, staff, patients, and families within their institution. It presents a multidisciplinary approach to sound ethical practices that is necessary to effectively care for these patients and their families. The book reviews the principles of ethical decision-making, the unique difficulties in using children as research subjects, common ethical conundrums involved in providing end-of-life care, and general moralities of professional practice. Written by experts in their fields, Ethical Issues in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology is an innovative and valuable resource for clinicians, practitioners, and trainees who work in the field of pediatric hematology/oncology.

This book identifies the various ethical challenges that arise in pediatric hematology/oncology and provides the necessary tools to overcome these challenges. Aiming to expand upon and strengthen providers' knowledge and experience in pediatric health care ethical issues, the text positions providers to be beneficial resources to faculty, staff, patients, and families within their institution. It presents a multidisciplinary approach to sound ethical practices that is necessary to effectively care for these patients and their families. The book reviews the principles of ethical decision-making, the unique difficulties in using children as research subjects, common ethical conundrums involved in providing end-of-life care, and general moralities of professional practice. Written by experts in their fields, Ethical Issues in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology is an innovative and valuable resource for clinicians, practitioners, and trainees who work in the field of pediatric hematology/oncology.

This book is addressed to all professionals concerned with the health care of children. It is, first and foremost, a teaching tool. It can be used for class discussion or case conferences with medical students or residents, nurses, and other staff in pediatrics or family medicine. It can also be used for self-teaching or continuing education by those already in practice. No one who reads this book is a beginner at moral reasoning. However, many may well be beginners at discussions that focus sharply on the ethical issues in medicine and introduce philosophical analysis. The goal is to clarify, conceptualize, and guide reasoning in order to come to conclusions that can be defended with good reasons. Case studies provide the most successful method of teaching medical ethics, posing the issues as they arise in real-life situations. The cases in this book are brief and rather skeletal in nature. This is partly to deflect the natural curiosity of those who are driven to seek more and more medical details, hoping thus to resolve the ethical issues or avoid them entirely. It also allows the reader to concentrate on one ethical issue at a time. In real life, of course, the hard questions arise often several at a time, embedded in a rich and complex medical and psychosocial background. As one must learn to walk before one can run, so it is wise to practice on cases where the key issue is highlighted.

The increase in new medical technology and experimental treatments has made the study of medical ethics essential for practitioners on all levels. This book brings together experts in the fields of pediatric hemotology/oncology, ethics, and law to examine legal and ethical issues surrounding the treatment of children with cancer or blood disease. The contributors present thoughtful discussions of ethical considerations of such practices as bone marrow transplantation, caring for hemophiliacs, preventing sickle cell disease, informing patients of treatment side effects, the statistical design of clinical trials, and the activities of the Institutional Review Board.

Preceded by: Quick reference for pediatric oncology clinicians / senior editors, Lori S. Wiener, Maryland Pao. c2009.

This book presents in detail the problems and ethical challenges in daily oncological practice. In western industrialized countries, roughly 25 percent of all citizens still die from cancer. Despite significant progress in basic science and in individual areas of clinical care, even in the 21st century, being diagnosed with cancer has lost none of its dread and can still be a death sentence. This situation raises many problems and challenges for medical ethics, e.g., the question of the benefits and risks of prevention programs, or the right to know and not to know. Clinical trials with cancer patients and quality assurance for surgery, radiotherapy and medication also pose a series of ethical dilemmas. Furthermore, cancer treatment is a psychological challenge not only for patients but also for physicians and caregivers. The issues of adequate pain management and good palliative care, of treatment limiting and the question of assisted suicide at the end of life also have to be considered. In order to reflect the subject’s diverse and multifaceted nature, the book incorporates legal, ethnographic, historical and literary perspectives into ethical considerations.

This new textbook has an international authorship and is a practical, up-to-date resource for clinicians responsible for the care of children with oncologic and malignant hematologic disease. It is specifically designed for practicing oncologists and hematologists, pediatricians with an interest in childhood cancer and trainees seeking a systematic approach to these disorders. This new textbook has an emphasis on the visual presentation and ease of reading of contemporary and comprehensive information for children’s cancers and contains detailed tables, fact boxes and illustrations. The textbook begins with an introduction to the general principles of the scientific foundation and treatment of childhood cancers and hematological malignancies. Separate sections are then devoted to descriptions of central nervous system tumors, hematological malignancies and solid tumors of childhood which encompass epidemiology, cellular and molecular biology, cancer genetics, immunology, pharmacology and the findings of clinical trials. For each area of science covered, key original references and reviews are highlighted to direct further reading. Diagnostic, biological, and therapeutic issues are integrated into each tumor-specific chapter, with evidence supporting the current rationales for risk stratification and the development of novel therapies. A final section then explores supportive care, palliative care, late effects considerations and psychosocial issues as relate to children’s cancer.

This book addresses a variety of ethical issues that arise in the care of oncology patients. Many volumes have been written on medical ethics in the past 30 years. However, few have focused on ethical issues specific to the care of cancer patients. This book brings together such a focused examination. The contributors are experienced clinicians, ethicists, medical humanists, and medical educators. The issues raised have direct relevance to the care of oncology patients in treatment as well as research settings. The chapters address issues that are central to contemporary medical practice and medical ethics inquiry. Any practicing clinician will be well aware of the problems of communication and how uncertainty, cross-cultural issues, and religious influences can impact patient care. The limits of care and the role of advance directives and palliative care are common issues that must be addressed in treating patients at the end of life. For oncologists and oncology patients, participation in clinical trials may be a thomy topic, especially when phase I clinical trials are being considered. The impact of managed care and reimbursement issues cannot be avoided in the contemporary patient care and similarly cannot be neglected when considering the ethical ramifications raised. No discussion of ethics in oncology can be complete without attention to the specific challenges raised by the pediatric patient with cancer. All of these topics are explored by the contributors to this book.