Archives of Disease in Childhood 2009;94:651-654
LEADING ARTICLES
Compassionate and innovative treatments in children: a proposal for an ethical framework
1 Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, UK
2 Clinical Ethics Service, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, UK
Correspondence to Dr Joe Brierley, Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London WC1N 3JH, UK; brierj@gosh.nhs.uk
Accepted 6 May 2009
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Optimism is a good characteristic, but if carried to an excess, it becomes foolishness. Theodore Roosevelt1
We would define an innovative therapy as any newly introduced treatment, or a new modification to an existing therapy with unproven efficacy and side effect profile, which is being used in the best interests of a patient, often on an experimental and/or compassionate basis.
Innovation in treating those who are suffering has been a driving force in the advancement of medical knowledge and treatment for many centuries. Many commonly accepted techniques, for example vaccination or transplant surgery, have developed from the use of innovation in response to human need. In critical care medicine, the need for innovation is driven by the obligation to rescue, often in circumstances that do not permit prolonged deliberation. In contrast there exists an obligation to protect the weak and vulnerable from interventions that are unlikely to achieve their intended
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