Recommendations issued on controversial 'Ashley' procedure for disabled children. Should parents be able to use medical means to restrict the growth of profoundly disabled children to make them easier to care for at home?
A working group convened to discuss the ethical and policy considerations of "growth attenuation" proposes some guidelines in an article in the Hastings Center Report. Personal essays -- including those of parents whose children cannot walk or speak -- accompany the article. Growth attenuation is the use of estrogen supplements to restrict a child's growth.
Debate has raged since 2006, when the first case of the procedure came to light involving Ashley, a 6-year-old girl with profound developmental disabilities who underwent growth attenuation in Seattle Children's Hospital at the request of her parents. The justification was that growth attenuation would enable Ashley's parents to more easily move her, dress her, and involve her in family gatherings.
Le poids des gènes. Surdité. Intelligence. Bioéthique. Don de produits sanguins.