Essential Ethics

The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
  • 0.0 (0)
  • MEDICINE
Essential Ethics Podcast

Essential Ethics, from the Children’s Bioethics Centre at The Royal Children’s Hospital (Melbourne, Australia) presents discussion of challenging cases that come up when treating children. Hear the most up-to-date thinking and draw knowledge from the ethics toolkit. After a decade or more of experience our team of world-recognised ethicists takes on the hardest cases. Essential Ethics is informative, interesting and always relevant. Hosted by Professor John Massie, a clinician and bioethicist at The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne.

  1. Parents vs clinicians: a path to resolution

    17/11/2023

    Parents vs clinicians: a path to resolution

    Parent-clinician conflict is a common reason that clinical ethicists become involved in children’s care. The genesis of the conflict is often quite early in the course of the child’s illness and the situation builds to a crisis when there is a difficult decision to be made. Clinicians and ethicists have a traditional way of considering the problem confronting the child. In this podcast Bry Moore and Ros McDougall offer a different lens through which to see the problem and, ideally, find a fresh way to consider the conflict and manage a path to resolution. Guests: Associate Professor Bryanna Moore, Dept of Bioethics & Health Humanities, University of Texas Medical Branch, USA, and Associate Professor Rosalind McDougall, Health Ethics at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne. Host: Professor John Massie, Children's Bioethics Centre, The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne.

    57 min

  2. 31/08/2023

    13th National Paediatric Bioethics Conference 2022: Friends of the CBC hypothetical

    A hypothetical case discussion sponsored by the Friends of the Children's Bioethics Centre Auxiliary. "Nadia" is a 15-year-old girl with cystic fibrosis who needs a permanent intravenous infusion device to facilitate her treatment. Her parents, of Indian heritage, are unwilling to agree to this. They are planning a family gathering and arranged marriage for Nadia and the infusion device will interfere with their plans. A panel of experts from the CBC, Profs Lynn Gillam, Clare Delany and Dr Georgina Hall, supported by a virtual panel from the RCH Clinical Ethics Response Group, wrestle with the case, which is full of ethical ‘heat’ and cultural sensitivities.

    56 min

  3. 24/08/2023

    13th National Paediatric Bioethics Conference 2022: Abandoned or relinquished? Challenges for hospital staff

    Jack Southwell, a Social Worker at RCH, describes the moral environment when looking after a child left in the care of the hospital. He discusses the technical differences between abandonment and relinquishment but posits that there is no real difference for staff. The child left in hospital care poses ethical concerns for the child, the staff, the parents and, importantly, the relationship between them all. Jack examines the moral and psychological toll this relationship poses for staff. This presentation won the Patron's Prize for the best presentation at the 2022 conference. The session is hosted by RCH Children's Bioethics Centre Clinical Nurse Consultant, Dr Jenny O’Neill.

    23 min

  4. 17/08/2023

    13th National Paediatric Bioethics Conference 2022: Vaccinating young people against parental wishes

    An expert panel explores the issues that arise when young people request vaccination for COVID-19 against the wishes of their parents. Dr Veronica Cerrati presents a case of a 14-year-old girl with type-1 diabetes requesting a COVID vaccine from her GP. Associate Prof Margie Danchin explains the medical benefits and risks and clinical approach she would take with a young person in this situation. Prof John Tobin explains how this sits within a human rights framework, drawing on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Prof Paula O’Brien considers the legal aspects, including Gillick competence and the varying laws and policies in the different jurisdictions of Australia. It is far from a straightforward picture, but in the end, a decision by the GP has to be made. Session chair: Prof John Massie, Clinical Director, Children's Bioethics Centre, RCH.

    28 min

  5. 15/08/2023

    Children as haematopoietic stem cell donors: The role of an advocate

    Haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation has become the standard treatment for a range of diseases in children and adults. Children, sometimes as young as six months of age may be asked to act as HSC donors, usually for their siblings. This is because siblings are most likely to be an ‘HLA match’. In this episode we explore the ethical issues when clinical teams and parents ask for children to be bone-marrow or peripheral blood stem cell donors for a sick sibling. Host: Prof John Massie, RCH. Guest: A/Prof Michael Marks, RCH senior paediatrician and donor advocate. Ethicist: Sharon Feldman, clinical ethicist, Children’s Bioethics Centre, RCH.

    41 min

  6. 11/08/2023

    13th National Paediatric Bioethics Conference 2022: Addressing conflict: an introduction to empathic curiosity

    Professor Jodi Halpern introduces the audience to empathic curiosity, a concept that she has developed through her work in psychiatry, paediatrics and clinical ethics. Prof Halpern explains how sympathy may come naturally to many clinicians but is often an unhelpful response to difficulties that patients and parents of sick children face. What is needed is an empathic response that engages the patient and parent and supports the medical decisions that need to be made. Prof Halpern offers a series of steps to operationalise empathic curiosity and build a therapeutic alliance, even if there has been disagreement. Host: Prof John Massie, Clinical Director, Children's Bioethics Centre, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. Presenter: Prof Jodi Halpern MD, PhD, Chancellor’s Chair and Professor of Bioethics at UC Berkeley.

    60 min
  7. Deciding with Children – Beyond Disability

    09/04/2023

    Deciding with Children – Beyond Disability

    In the clinical care of children who have a disability, the processes of deciding with children can present different challenges. Children who have a disability may have limited ability to understand the decision to be made or difficulties communicating their preferences. In this episode, paediatrician Dr Giuliana Antolovich reorientates us to misunderstandings about disability which are often created by preconceived notions of what children with disabilities can do. She challenges us to centre the child in the consultation, listen carefully to their preferences and values, and include these in medical decisions that will affect the child. This approach is respectful to the child and opens a rich and surprising dialogue with them and their families. Host: Prof John Massie. Guest: Dr Giuliana Antolovich. Ethicist: A/Prof Ros McDougall.

    45 min
  8. Deciding with Children: Finding My Voice

    02/04/2023

    Deciding with Children: Finding My Voice

    Transition to adult services is an important step for patients who have been cared for in a children’s hospital or by a paediatrician. This is a process (transition) rather than an event (transfer) and takes both time and careful curation for the young person and their parents. The goal is to help develop the young person as an independent medical decision-maker at the same time as facilitating the parents’ role to switch from parent to patient advocate. There are many barriers to transition: willingness of the clinician to ‘let-go’; the patient's and parents' fears about a new environment and healthcare team; difficultly of the young person stepping-up into a role as independent decision-maker; difficulty of the parent ‘letting-go’ or shifting roles, and perhaps a poorly established medical service for young people with complex healthcare needs. Nevertheless, the process of transition needs to occur to promote the autonomy and best interests of the child and, in a call to justice, to make room for younger children who need paediatric services. Host: Prof John Massie. Guest: Evelyn Culnane, RCH Transition Service. Ethicist: Prof Clare Delany, Children’s Bioethics Centre, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.

    38 min
See All (57)

About

Essential Ethics, from the Children’s Bioethics Centre at The Royal Children’s Hospital (Melbourne, Australia) presents discussion of challenging cases that come up when treating children. Hear the most up-to-date thinking and draw knowledge from the ethics toolkit. After a decade or more of experience our team of world-recognised ethicists takes on the hardest cases. Essential Ethics is informative, interesting and always relevant. Hosted by Professor John Massie, a clinician and bioethicist at The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne.

Information

  • Creator
    The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2023
  • Episodes
    57
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia

You Might Also Like

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada