Virtual Mentor. October 2006, Volume 8, Number 10: 639-702. Full Issue PDF

October 2006 Contents

Parental Competence in Medical Caregiving and Decision Making

Ethics Poll

1. Immunizations should be required for all school-age children unless they pose medical risk for the child. Exemptions should not be allowed on the basis of a parent's religious or philosophical disagreement with immunization.
Agree
Disagree

2. In general, parents should make decisions about health care for their minor children. Medical professionals should intervene:
Only when parents' decisions create conditions that satisfy the legal definition of "child neglect or abuse."
Whenever parents' decisions stand in the way of a health benefit (e.g., a parent does not enforce healthful eating habits or enrolls a child in too many physical training activities).

3. US law allows states to override parents' religious objections and impose standard medical treatment for a child with life-threatening illness if the standard treatment has at least a 50-50 chance of saving the child's life.
This represents a proper balancing of the state's interest in preserving life with parents' right to make health care decisions for their children.
This represents infringement of parents' rights by the state.

From the Editor

Parents, Children and Their Physicians: The Complex Journey of Parenthood
Gretchen Hermes
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2006; 8:641-644.

Educating for Professionalism

Clinical Cases

Parental Influence on Level of Functioning in a Child with Down Syndrome
Commentary by Dianne McBrien
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2006; 8:645-648.

The Desperate Parent and the Lure of Experimental Treatment
Commentary by Peter J. Smith
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2006; 8:649-653.

Coping with a Child's Conduct Disorder
Commentary by Sharon Hirsch and Rebecca Sheffield
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2006; 8:654-658.

Obesity in Kids: When Appeals to Vanity Fail
Commentary by Joseph Zanga and John C. Moskop
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2006; 8:659-662.

Journal Discussion

Parental Consent for Pediatric Research
Emily E. Anderson
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2006; 8:667-671.

Medical Education

Teaching Residents and Students To Help Patients and Their Families with Obesity
David Collier and Joseph Zanga
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Virtual Mentor. 2006; 8:663-666.

Clinical Pearl

Diagnosis and Treatment of Conduct Disorder
Suma Jacob
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Virtual Mentor. 2006; 8:672-675.

Law, Policy, and Society

Health Law

Limiting Parents' Rights in Medical Decision Making
Lee Black
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2006; 8:676-680.

Policy Forum

Parental Resistance to Childhood Immunizations: Clinical, Ethical and Policy Considerations
Nancy Berlinger
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2006; 8:681-684.