Ethical Issues in Pediatric Consultation-Liaison

Abstract

General principles of medical ethics are outlined as a basis for discussion of ethical issues in pediatric consultation-liaison psychiatry. Modern ethics is rooted in philosophical soils that extend across a wide intellectual terrain, from ideologic ethical systems such as rule utilitarianism and act utilitarianism to deontologic systems, exemplified by the categoric imperative. Differences between the conclusions pointed to by these systems give rise to the potential tensions among concepts of patient autonomy, physician beneficence, and distributive justice. The roles of the child psychiatrist consulting to pediatrics are reviewed. Using six clinical vignettes, several ethical issues and the child psychiatrist‘s response to them are explored. These are analyzed in relation to the underlying ethical theory.