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The ethics of paediatric research
Author(s) -
Spriggs Merle,
Caldwell Patrina HY
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1754.2011.02166.x
Subject(s) - medicine , denial , harm , pediatric research , research ethics , payment , child health , medical research , family medicine , pediatrics , psychiatry , social psychology , psychology , pathology , world wide web , computer science , psychoanalysis
Paediatric research is essential for improving health outcomes of children. Waiting for adult studies before conducting paediatric studies will prolong the denial of effective treatment for children. If we rely on information from adult studies rather than conducting studies with children, we risk causing harm to children. In this paper, we identify and examine ethical issues unique to conducting research with children. These include the function and the value of a child's assent and the criteria that should guide a proxy in making decisions about a child's involvement in research, offering payment to children for research participation and acceptable levels of risk for paediatric research. Justice demands that children not be denied the benefits of research, and it is the role of the paediatric medical community to advocate not only for more research for children but also to ensure that the research conducted is of the highest quality.