Essential Ethics

How do we ration limited healthcare resources without discriminating against people with disabilities? Host, Professor John Massie enlists Dr Giuliana Antolovich, a paediatrician working in Developmental Medicine at the RCH, to shed light on this important topic. Zooming in to the conversation is ethicist Professor Lynn Gillam.

A 5-year-old boy is brought to the ED with high fever, lethargy, cough and breathing difficulties. There is no contact with a COVID-19 case or overseas travel. The boy has moderately severe autistic spectrum disorder associated with a fear of medical procedures. His mother refuses a COVID-19 nasal and throat swab on the basis that it will severely upset him and set his ASD treatment back. Is it acceptable to accede to mother’s wishes and not do a COVID swab? Professor John Massie navigates the issue with Professor Lynn Gillam.

The SARS-Co2 coronavirus has caused the pandemic that many suspected would come, but which has still caught health services by surprise. Medical resources are never infinite, even in wealthy countries with well-developed healthcare systems like Australia. Host, Professor John Massie explores with guest, Professor Lynn Gillam some of the ethical issues around allocation of resources to children during the COVID19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created pressure on healthcare services and healthcare workers like never before. Essential Ethics host Professor John Massie is joined by Prof Lynn Gillam and Prof Clare Delany of the Children’s Bioethics Centre to consider the ethical principles that should be the bedrock of the institutional and individual healthcare worker response to the pandemic.

When parents advocated for early leg amputation and prosthesis fitting for their child, rather than go through a lengthy series of leg salvaging operations and rehabilitation, orthopaedic surgeon Dr Chris Harris faced an ethical dilemma. Should he acquiesce to the parents' request? Or should he steer them to a pathway they don’t want to take? Thank goodness we have Prof Lynn Gillam back in the chair to guide us through the ethical principles and find a way forward that everyone can be satisfied with.

Left ventricular assist devices have made it possible to keep children with heart failure alive while waiting for a heart transplant, yet at a significant risk of strokes and prolonged hospitalisation. But what do you do when the number of children waiting for a heart transplant is much greater than the number of hearts that become available? Dr Jacob Mathew can deal with almost any cardiac emergency, but this one troubles him the most. Professor Lynn Gillam helps to find a clear path through the angst and emotion that these cases throw up. Hosted by Professor John Massie.