La tutela dei minori in biomedicina: nuove sfide per l'etica clinica.

Clinical ethics in paediatrics may be considered as the clinical application of ethics in the field of paediatrics and its sub-specialties and there are many healthcare settings where the applications of clinical and experimental medicine in paediatrics pose ethical questions of paramount importance, and in which it is often difficult, for healthcare professionals, to make appropriate choices. The purpose of the PhD project was to analyze the main clinical ethical issues in some areas of pediatrics that have been poorly addressed since nowadays in the literature and may therefore represent new challenges both for ethical reflection and for the contribution that clinical ethics counseling can provide for the analysis of conflicts in concrete cases. When dealing with individual situations it is important to ensure more adequate protection as possible for children involved, in order to respect the rights of children as embodied by the Convention on the rights of the child, which entered into force September 2, 1990. Each topic has been dealt with starting from the medical ethics principles, in particular, the principle of autonomy and the characterization of the best interests of the child, both when children are placed in their familiar environment and thus are involved in definite relationships with parents, and when they are placed, more generally, in relation to society and to the needs of health promotion and protection of the common good that emerge from research. The contribution given by clinical ethics consultation can be applied in everyday paediatric practice, facilitating conflict resolution in an atmosphere of respect and attention to the interests, rights and responsibilities of all persons involved.