Medical Child Abuse
Medical neglect now form of child abuse
Hospitals struggle with parents who refuse vital treatment for kids
"Hospitals often encounter parents who withhold medical treatment from children with serious diseases or disabilities. And those cases are being dealt with behind closed doors, according to Sakai, who had served as a pediatrician at Toho University hospitals for more than 10 years.
"Now some medical experts have started viewing such cases as medical neglect -- a form of child abuse -- because I think more doctors have become aware of medical ethics," he said.
Medical neglect is emerging as a major problem in Japan, where the quality of children's lives is being put at increasing risk.
According to a 2004 study by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, 60 hospitals, or 18 percent of 328 surveyed, said they had at least one case in which parents refused medical treatment for a child in 2003.
The 60 hospitals, which had provided a general training program to doctors, nurses and other staff in pediatric wards, reported a combined 81 medical refusal cases. An analysis of the 60 cases most impressive to doctors found that 35 involved newborns, 15 involved children aged 1 to 3, and 10 involved kids 4 and older.
The kids refused medical treatment all had various diseases, including chromosomal anomalies, as in Downs syndrome, neurological diseases, heart diseases and perinatal brain damage, it said.
Although the doctors at the 60 hospitals predicted seven would die even if proper medical care were provided, the actual fatality rate was about 30 percent (17 children) due to medical neglect, according to the study.
It was also found that 24 of the 60 parents refused care because they were worried about the children's future. Another 13 demanded alternative treatments, six simply neglected the children, four cited religious reasons for withholding treatment, and two declined because the child was in a terminal stage. The reasons of the remaining 11 who withheld treatment were not provided.
Under the the Child Welfare Law and the Child Abuse Prevention Law, anyone, including doctors and other staff, who comes across a suspected case of child abuse is obliged to report it to a public child consultation center."
The Japan Times, March 30, 2005
Hospitals struggle with parents who refuse vital treatment for kids
"Hospitals often encounter parents who withhold medical treatment from children with serious diseases or disabilities. And those cases are being dealt with behind closed doors, according to Sakai, who had served as a pediatrician at Toho University hospitals for more than 10 years.
"Now some medical experts have started viewing such cases as medical neglect -- a form of child abuse -- because I think more doctors have become aware of medical ethics," he said.
Medical neglect is emerging as a major problem in Japan, where the quality of children's lives is being put at increasing risk.
According to a 2004 study by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, 60 hospitals, or 18 percent of 328 surveyed, said they had at least one case in which parents refused medical treatment for a child in 2003.
The 60 hospitals, which had provided a general training program to doctors, nurses and other staff in pediatric wards, reported a combined 81 medical refusal cases. An analysis of the 60 cases most impressive to doctors found that 35 involved newborns, 15 involved children aged 1 to 3, and 10 involved kids 4 and older.
The kids refused medical treatment all had various diseases, including chromosomal anomalies, as in Downs syndrome, neurological diseases, heart diseases and perinatal brain damage, it said.
Although the doctors at the 60 hospitals predicted seven would die even if proper medical care were provided, the actual fatality rate was about 30 percent (17 children) due to medical neglect, according to the study.
It was also found that 24 of the 60 parents refused care because they were worried about the children's future. Another 13 demanded alternative treatments, six simply neglected the children, four cited religious reasons for withholding treatment, and two declined because the child was in a terminal stage. The reasons of the remaining 11 who withheld treatment were not provided.
Under the the Child Welfare Law and the Child Abuse Prevention Law, anyone, including doctors and other staff, who comes across a suspected case of child abuse is obliged to report it to a public child consultation center."
The Japan Times, March 30, 2005
