RT Book, Section
A1 Holder, Angela Roddey
A2 Rudolph, Colin D.
A2 Rudolph, Abraham M.
A2 Lister, George E.
A2 First, Lewis R.
A2 Gershon, Anne A.
SR Print(0)
ID 6723276
T1 Chapter 127. Law, Ethics, and Caring Near the End of Life
T2 Rudolph's Pediatrics, 22e
YR 2011
FD 2011
PB The McGraw-Hill Companies
PP New York, NY
SN 978-0-07-149723-7
LK accesspediatrics.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=6723276
RD 2024/04/19
AB According  to  the  Institute  of  Medicine  report  When  Children  Die:  Improving  Palliative  and  End  of  Life  Care  for  Children  and  their  Families,1in  1999  approximately  55,000  children  from  birth  through  age  19  died  in  the  United  States.  Some  of  these  children  and  adolescents  died  as  the  result  of  an  accident  and  had  been  completely  healthy  until  death.  Some  infants  and  children  died  of  diseases,  but  their  deaths  were  unexpected  because  recovery  had  been  considered  a  probability.  Others  died  as  the  inevitable  conclusion  of  their  illness;  recovery  was  considered  at  least  unlikely  and,  in  many  cases,  impossible.  In  all  these  situations,  however,  the  death  (or  near-death,  when  the  child  eventually  recovers)  of  a  child  is  a  horrendous  event  for  the  family  members  left  behind.  It  is  a  life-altering  tragedy,  one  whose  stages  family  members  will  never  forget,  nor  will  they  forget  who  said  what  to  them  before,  during,  and  after  the  death.  A  careless  remark  by  a  health  professional  may  be  taken  as  dismissive  of  parental  anguish  and  thus  remembered  in  anger  for  a  lifetime.