The Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics at Seattle Children's Hospital hosted its seventh annual international pediatric bioethics conference,"Who's Responsible for the Children: Exploring the Boundaries of Clinical Ethics and Public Policy," on July 22 and 23, 2011, in Seattle. The conference featured nationally recognized speakers in bioethics and drew over 200 participants from across the nation and worldwide. Most participants were medical professionals.
There were many questions that the panel sought to address:
Should individual providers or healthcare institutions provide medical care to children whose families cannot pay?
Do providers have an obligation to tell families about healthcare options that will not be offered because of financial constraints?
How do we balance obligations to provide better healthcare with obligations to improve other factors that influence health, such as diet, exercise, housing and education?
Should care to children be prioritized based on social, physical or mental health status? who have expensive technology-intensive care needs, such as ventilators, dialysis or transplants?
What about children who have expensive technology-intensive care needs, such as ventilators, dialysis or transplants?
What about children with intellectual disabilities who require special resources, yet will remain dependent on society? Children who have mental healthcare needs? Children who are undocumented?
How will healthcare reform affect the goal of providing for the basic healthcare needs of all children?
You can view a webcast of the entire conference or each individual presentation by clicking here.
