A sufficiency threshold is not a harm principle: A better alternative to best interests for overriding parental decisions

Ben Saunders

doi:10.1111/bioe.12796

Is ‘best interests’ the right standard in cases like that of Charlie Gard?

Journal of Medical Ethics ◽

10.1136/medethics-2019-105808 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 16-17 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Robert D Truog

Keyword(s):

Harm Principle ◽

Best Interests ◽

Clinical Decisions ◽

Disabled Children ◽

The Usa ◽

The Uk ◽

The Right ◽

Legal Judgments ◽

The Harm Principle

Savulescu and colleagues have provided interesting insights into how the UK public view the ‘best interests’ of children like Charlie Gard. But is best interests the right standard for evaluating these types of cases? In the USA, both clinical decisions and legal judgments tend to follow the ‘harm principle’, which holds that parental choices for their children should prevail unless their decisions subject the child to avoidable harm. The case of Charlie Gard, and others like it, show how the USA and the UK have strikingly different approaches for making decisions about the treatment of severely disabled children.

The Harm Principle and the Best Interests Standard: Are Aspirational or Minimal Standards the Key?

The American Journal of Bioethics ◽

10.1080/15265161.2018.1485772 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (8) ◽

pp. 32-34 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Giles Birchley

Keyword(s):

Harm Principle ◽

Best Interests ◽

Best Interests Standard ◽

The Harm Principle

Parental Decisions and Court Jurisdiction: Best Interests or Significant Harm?

Parental Rights, Best Interests and Significant Harms ◽

10.5040/9781509924929.ch-003 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Rachel Taylor

Keyword(s):

Best Interests ◽

Significant Harm ◽

Parental Decisions

Best Interests or Harm to Reverse Parental Decisions: Each in Its Own Domain

The American Journal of Bioethics ◽

10.1080/15265161.2018.1485770 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (8) ◽

pp. 41-44 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Allan J. Jacobs

Keyword(s):

Best Interests ◽

Parental Decisions

Spiritual Healing, Sick Kids and the Law: Inequities in the American Healthcare System

American Journal of Law & Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0098858800002847 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 29 (2-3) ◽

pp. 269-299

Author(s):

Janna C. Merrick

Keyword(s):

Medical Science ◽

Spiritual Healing ◽

Best Interests ◽

Legal Rights ◽

High Tech ◽

Divine Love ◽

Religious Minority ◽

Human Need ◽

East End ◽

The Church

Main Street in Sarasota, Florida. A high-tech medical arts building rises from the east end, the county's historic three-story courthouse is two blocks to the west and sandwiched in between is the First Church of Christ, Scientist. A verse inscribed on the wall behind the pulpit of the church reads: “Divine Love Always Has Met and Always Will Meet Every Human Need.” This is the church where William and Christine Hermanson worshipped. It is just a few steps away from the courthouse where they were convicted of child abuse and third-degree murder for failing to provide conventional medical care for their seven-year-old daughter.This Article is about the intersection of “divine love” and “the best interests of the child.” It is about a pluralistic society where the dominant culture reveres medical science, but where a religious minority shuns and perhaps fears that same medical science. It is also about the struggle among different religious interests to define the legal rights of the citizenry.

Fundamental Rights and Best Interests of the Child in Transnational Families

10.1017/9781780689395 ◽

2019 ◽

Keyword(s):

Fundamental Rights ◽

Best Interests ◽

Transnational Families

MDFT: Engaging Moms Program for dependency court: Serving "the best interests of the child" by improving maternal & family functioning

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e531852012-009 ◽

2011 ◽

Keyword(s):

Family Functioning ◽

Best Interests

Best interests or legal rectitude?: Australian mental health tribunal stakeholder & case-flow implications

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e554252012-002 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Terry Carney

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Best Interests

Best Interests of the Child-Questionnaire

PsycTESTS Dataset ◽

10.1037/t75634-000 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

A. Elianne Zijlstra ◽

Margrite E. Kalverboer ◽

Wendy J. Post ◽

Erik J. Knorth ◽

Mijntje D. C. Ten Brummelaar

Keyword(s):

Best Interests ◽

Child Questionnaire

Opinions Regarding the Principle of Promoting with Priority the Superior Interest of the Child in the Regulation of Law No. 272/2004 and the Romanian Civil Code

International conference KNOWLEDGE-BASED ORGANIZATION ◽

10.2478/kbo-2020-0068 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 26 (2) ◽

pp. 150-156

Author(s):

Aurelia Teodora Drăghici ◽

Andrei Murgu ◽

Teodor Bodoașcă

Keyword(s):

Children's Rights ◽

Civil Code ◽

Children’S Rights ◽

Best Interests ◽

Legal Analysis ◽

Best Interest ◽

Regulation Of Law

SummaryThe study is devoted mainly to the logical-legal analysis of the provisions of art. 2 of Law no. 272/2004 on the promotion and protection of children’s rights, as well as art. 263 of the Civil Code, which establish the main normative solutions regarding the “priority promotion of the principle of the best interests of the child”. Although the phrase “the best interests of the child” is used in the construction of many rules of Law no. 272/2004, the Civil Code and other normative acts, the legislator refrained from establishing its significance, leaving this approach to the doctrine. The proposed study is intended to be a contribution to achieving this goal. We were also concerned with the identification of normative inaccuracies and the substantiation of pertinent proposals of lege ferenda for the improvement of the regulations regarding the principle of promoting with priority the principle of the best interest of the child.