Refusal of animal-derived medical products in a paediatric setting: Ethical issues

Many medical products that are widely available and commonly used are of animal origin, which can be problematic for those who identify as followers of a particular religion, or have moral commitments or dietary preferences that prohibit or restrict the ingestion of animal products. Given that people are becoming more conscious of the products they ingest, however, we suspect this might be an issue in the foreseeable future, particularly in a multicultural and diverse community like Toronto, Canada. Failure to provide services sensitive to these beliefs and preferences may result in a refusal of medical treatment. In this paper, we aim to identify and explore issues relating to the refusal of animal-derived medical products in paediatric settings by exploring three clinical cases.