General Medicine

» P_Al - When Parents Decline Therapy

This is a difficult subject, as we know that parents are generally looking out for the best interest of their children. That said it was interesting when you looked at the journal article related to this issue - see article at http://www.jco.org/cgi/content/full/24/3... Although this was a small series, generally the outcome was poor for those who followed alternative treatment plans. This no doubt was due at least in part to the fact that all of these cases had good long-term survival rates with standard care.
Of course parents must be properly informed so that they can make informed decisions. However, one could argue that parents may not be offering minimal standards of care if they decline a treatment protocol with a greater than 90% 5-year survival. This is not to ignore the tremendous sacrifices involved in therapy and the hardship to the child and the parents. However, the statistics are very strong.
What do you think?
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-- posted by P_Al