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  • Can mediation avoid litigation in conflicts about medical treatment for children? An analysis of previous litigation in England and Wales

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Original research
Can mediation avoid litigation in conflicts about medical treatment for children? An analysis of previous litigation in England and Wales
  1. Veronica Neefjes
  1. Department of Law, School of Social Sciences, Centre for Social Ethics and Policy, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Veronica Neefjes, Centre for Social Ethics and Policy, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK; veronica.neefjes{at}postgrad.manchester.ac.uk

Abstract

Objective To investigate the reasons why parents disagree with their clinicians in cases reaching the court and to estimate the number of cases in which mediation might have avoided litigation.

Design Analysis of 83 published cases regarding medical treatment decisions for children initiated either by an NHS Trust or Local Authority between 1990 and 1 July 2022.

Results The analysis found that the main areas of contention are different value judgements, different interpretations of observable events such as the health of the child, their quality of life or burden of treatment and relational issues (ie, loss of trust). More than half of the cases are estimated not to have been preventable by mediation because either no conflict existed (n=13) or the parental decision was based on strongly held, mostly faith-based, views unlikely to be open for discussion (n=31).

Conclusion The potential of mediation to avoid future litigation may be more limited than hoped for.

  • Paediatrics
  • Child Health
  • Ethics
  • Qualitative research

Data availability statement

Data are available in a public, open access repository.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2022-325033

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    Data availability statement

    Data are available in a public, open access repository.

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors VN is guarantor.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.

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