Hot Topics: Pediatrics

Blog Posts (23)

April 18, 2014

Surge in Narcotic Prescriptions for Pregnant Women

[New York Times] Doctors are prescribing opioid painkillers to pregnant women in astonishing numbers, new research shows, even though risks to the developing fetus are largely unknown.Of 1.1 million pregnant women enrolled in Medicaid nationally, nearly 23 percent filled an opioid prescription in 2007, up from 18.5 percent in 2000, according to a study published last […]
April 17, 2014

Manslaughter conviction for ‘negligent breastfeeding’ puts other mums at risk

(The Guardian) A genetic defect may be the real culprit in the case of a woman taking painkillers whose baby died of a morphine overdose. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA On Thursday last week, a South Carolina jury convicted Stephanie Greene, a 39-year old nurse, of killing her six-week-old daughter by administering a morphine overdose in her breast […]
April 1, 2014

Cute with a Good Story: Social Media Selects Experimental Subjects

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

For patients with a serious illness, accessing cutting edge drugs has just taken a new turn. In the past, a patient with cancer would undergo conventional treatments.…

February 21, 2014

State Vaccination Exemption Policy Makes A Difference

Mother Jones has just run a very nice analysis of recent years' research on state laws governing non-medical exemption from childhood vaccines. It turns out that if a state makes it very easy for parents to exempt their children from recommended school...
February 14, 2014

LIBERTY AND WHERE NOSES BEGIN--AN OPEN LETTER TO: The ACLU of Rhode Island Concerning Mandating Flu Vaccinations for Very Young Children Entering Daycare and Kindergarden

From: Arthur Caplan and Dorit Reiss

SUBJECT: requiring the vaccination of children and workers in daycare and pre-K against the flu

In recent testimony submitted to the Public Health Department of Rhode Island, a representative of the Rhode Island ACLU spoke against the requirement to vaccinate Rhode Island’s children age six months to 5 years of age against the flu in order to enter daycare or pre-kindergarten.…

December 10, 2013

When Parents Disagree With the Doctor

by Craig Klugman, PhD

“You are considered sane until you disagree with the doctor” is an old adage in clinical ethics circles.…

September 24, 2013

How Young is Too Young: Bariatric Surgery in Toddlers

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

The Oxford American Dictionary defines the term “outrageous” as “shockingly bad or excessive.” Case in point, a recent publication in the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports about a two-and-a-half year old boy in Saudi Arabia who two years ago underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG).…

September 15, 2013

DNA and Newborn Screening

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

The National Institutes of Health wants to know the DNA of our babies.  The government is not looking to diagnose babies and help them live better lives.…

June 6, 2013

Lung Transplants and the Bandwagon Bioethics

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

In case you have not heard, the big bioethics story this week comes out of Philadelphia where a 10-year-old girl with cystic fibrosis is in need of a lung transplant to survive.…

April 15, 2013

Medical Futility Policy Transparency

Thaddeus Mason Pope, J.D., Ph.D.

Faith Smith was born with Trisomy 18.  She was also diagnosed with a hole in her heart. …

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Published Articles (3)

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 14 Issue 3 - Mar 2014

Addressing the Ethical Challenges in Genetic Testing and Sequencing of Children Ellen Wright Clayton, Laurence B. McCullough, Leslie G. Biesecker, Steven Joffe, Lainie Friedman Ross, Susan M. Wolf & For the Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research (CSER) Consortium Pediatrics Working Group

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 14 Issue 3 - Mar 2014

Ethics and Empiricism in the Formation of Professional Guidelines Mildred K. Cho

AJOB Primary Research: Volume 4 Issue 2 - Apr 2013

What Constitutes the Best Interest of a Child? Views of Parents, Children, and Physicians in a Pediatric Oncology Setting Martine C. de Vries, Dorine Bresters, Gertjan J. L. Kaspers, Mirjam Houtlosser, Jan M. Wit, Dirk P. Engberts & Evert van Leeuwen

News (53)

April 17, 2014 5:42 pm

French School Carries out DNA Dragnet in Rape Case

French investigators began taking DNA samples Monday from 527 male students and staff at a high school — including boys as young as 14 — as they searched for the assailant who raped a teenage girl on the closed campus.

April 16, 2014 2:09 pm

For kids, moving can be mentally tough

Moving to a new area may be hard on the mental health of children, especially adolescents, according to a new U.S. study.

March 31, 2014 3:55 pm

Smoking bans can help kids' health, researchers say

If legislation banning smoking protects people from disease, then the proportion of the world population covered by such laws is too low – just 16%, according to researchers.

March 24, 2014 2:34 pm

Crowdsourcing medical decisions: Ethicists worry Josh Hardy case may set bad precedent

Just hours after social-media supporters of a dying 7-year-old boy pressured a reluctant biotech company into giving him an experimental medication, the backlash began.

March 13, 2014 3:41 pm

Company Makes Drug Available To Ailing Boy Following Public Outcry

Chimerix, a small and unprofitable biotechnology company, will make an experimental drug available to a young Virginia boy who is suffering from an infection he contracted while being treated for cancer.

March 5, 2014 2:51 pm

Childhood secondhand smoke exposure damages arteries

Exposure to second-hand smoke in childhood causes irreversible damage to children’s arteries – increasing their risk of heart attacks or strokes when they grow up, according to a large international study published on Wednesday.

March 3, 2014 4:20 pm

Smoking tied to changes in the structure of teen brains

Young smokers who have smoked more cigarettes have clear differences in their brains compared to lighter smokers, according to a new study.

February 26, 2014 12:54 pm

New APA autism guidelines 'reduce diagnosis by more than 30%'

New autism guidelines could leave thousands of children who have developmental delays without autism diagnosis, meaning they will miss out on social services, educational support and medical benefits.

February 26, 2014 12:51 pm

Obesity Drops Among Young Children in U.S., Report Says

The obesity rate among 2- to 5-year-olds dropped by almost half in the U.S. over the past decade, according to a report suggesting a new wave of Americans may avoid the risks of heart disease and diabetes linked to being severely overweight.

February 25, 2014 3:14 pm

Autism-friendly travel now officially aboard Royal Caribbean cruises

Following guidelines set by Autism of the Seas, the cruise line has now incorporated new youth programs, trained daycare staff and specialized meals that cater to autism-sensitive dietary restrictions like gluten or dairy-free options.

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