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Terminally Ill Children and Treatment Choices: a Reply to Gareth Matthews

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Children And Health Care

Part of the book series: Philosophy and Medicine ((PHME,volume 33))

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Abstract

Gareth Matthews’ paper [5] is a penetrating discussion of two closely related topics. In the first part of the paper, he offers a description and analysis of what he has called the “Standard Developmental Account” of children’s conceptions of death. In the second part of the paper he focuses on an in-depth study of terminally ill children and compares its findings with the Standard Developmental Account. My commentary will explore the implications Matthews draws from these studies for the questions of whether and how to inform seriously ill children about their disease and help them participate in decisions about its treatment.

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Bibliography

  1. Bluebond-Langner, M.: 1978, The Private Worlds of Dying Children, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.

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  2. Brock, D.: 1989, ‘Children’s Competence for Health Care Decisionmaking’, in this volume, pp. 181–212.

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  3. Holder, A.: 1989, ‘Children and Adolescents: Their Right to Decide about Their Own Health Care’, in this volume, pp. 161–172.

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  4. Holmes, R.: 1989, ‘Consent and Decisional Authority in Children’s Health Care Decisionmaking: A Reply to Dan Brock’, in this volume, pp. 213–219.

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  5. Matthews, G.: 1988, ‘Children’s Conceptions of Illness and Death’, in this volume, pp. 133–146.

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  6. Nitschke, R. et ai: 1982, ‘Therapeutic Choices Made by Patients with End-stage Cancer’, Journal of Pediatrics 101, 471–476.

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  7. President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research: 1982, Making Health Care Decisions, Washington, D.C.

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  8. Speece, M. W. and Brent, S. B.: 1984, ‘Children’s Understanding of Death: A Review of Three Components of a Death Concept’, Child Development 55, 1671–1686.

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  9. Spinetta, J. J.: 1978, ‘Communication Patterns in Families Dealing with Life-threatening Illness’, in O. J. Z. Sahler (ed.), The Child and Death, C. V. Mosby Company, Saint Louis, pp. 43–51.

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© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Moskop, J.C. (1989). Terminally Ill Children and Treatment Choices: a Reply to Gareth Matthews. In: Kopelman, L.M., Moskop, J.C. (eds) Children And Health Care. Philosophy and Medicine, vol 33. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-27406-5_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-27406-5_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-55608-078-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-585-27406-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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