Religion or Medicine

[ambojcksn]

I know this is a controversial topic about whether parents should be allowed to withhold healthcare from their children in hopes that God will heal them. How often do nurses really deal with this? Will I ever deal with this in the NICU?

[RNNPICU, BSN, RN]

Ultimately parents can decide what procedures/treatment to have done and what not to have done. As long as parents have the information they need to make their decisions, that is all you can do. Yes. you likely will have to face this issue in the NICU as well as in any other part of the health care system.

[elkpark]

Ultimately parents can decide what procedures/treatment to have done and what not to have done. As long as parents have the information they need to make their decisions, that is all you can do.

That's not entirely true. Courts have found repeatedly that, while adults can make the choice for themselves to refuse life-sustaining medical treatment without which they will die, they cannot make that choice for their children. Hospitals go to court, I don't want to say "often," but it does happen, for court orders to treat children against their parents' wishes if the child is likely to die without the treatment.

[MunoRN, RN]

Parents aren't really as free in decision making for their children as they are in making decisions for themselves. An adult can make pretty much whatever decision they want, but parents are legally required to ensure the welfare of their children, so while they get some leeway, they will often be successfully challenged in court if they are making a decision that would clearly cause harm in declining a well established as beneficial treatment.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

I was stunned to discover that NICU was such a morally/ethically ambivalent place in which to work. I couldn't reconcile myself to the way that decisions were being made, the basis for those decisions & the ensuing consequences which could be catastrophic for the family as well as my tiny little patients. I transferred back to adult ICU as quickly as possible, where I didn't have to deal with nearly as much futile care.