The Child As Vulnerable Patient

How can medical law and ethics take forward the issue of children's empowerment and protection? What are the key factors in considering the balance between protecting the welfare of the young and allowing them rights to autonomy? The Child as Vulnerable Patient investigates the role that a human rights approach can play in establishing the parameters of autonomy and discusses the opportunities presented in the Human Rights Act, the European Convention on the Rights of the Child and new policy initiatives in the NHS. A valuable addition to existing literature in this area, this volume will be of interest to lawyers, health professionals and students of medical law.

Lynn Hagger is a lecturer in Law at the University of Sheffield. Her research interests lie in health care generally and children's rights in particular. In addition to her legal career, Lynn also has a long-term non-executive involvement in the NHS where she has provided law and ethics training for a broad range of health professionals. For the last five years she has been Chairperson of the Sheffield Children's NHS Trust.

Contents: Preface; The importance of protecting and empowering children; The law and children's autonomy; Parental responsibility and children's medical treatment; Confidentiality and children; Genetic testing and counselling: the paradigm case for family medicine?; Negligence and complaints; Children in research; Children's participation and foundation trust: some new opportunities?; Concluding remarks; Index.