Parents refusing medical treatment for children
- the tendency towards the increased level of refusals
- deterioration of the healthcare sector image
- poor quality of suggested services
- the unreasonably high price of treatment
- nurses inability to meet diverse demands
- cultural and religious issues
Today, we could observe the tendency towards the increased number of patients who refuse medical treatment for their children. This issue should be considered a significant problem as it undermines the functioning of the healthcare system and relations between patients and caregivers. There are several reasons for these refusals: the lack of competence, high price of suggested services, religious and cultural beliefs.
Headline: Best interest of a child is of primary concern today (“Consent to treatment,” 2015)
- parents try to protect children from maltreatment
- nurses do not consider all aspects
- complex conditions of care delivery
- parents possess more reliable information
- failure to obtain the informed consent
- right to preserve family privacy
In the majority of cases, parents act to protect their childrens interests. Additionally, they could be afraid of maltreatment and poor outcomes of treatment. For this reason, the majority of cases when parents refuse medical services could be justified by the increased threat to the health of a child or healthcare specialists inability to deliver care appropriately.
Extremely high prices for services
- parents are not able to pay for care
- there are no cheap analogs
- the quality of services suffers
- the high need for a new pricing policy
- specific support programs for parents
- improved cooperation between caregivers and parents
The high price of medical services remains one of the main barriers parents face when trying to obtain care and help their children to recover. In such a way, the need for the reconsideration of the current situation becomes evident as adults continue to neglect services offered to them because of their unreasonably high price (“When can a parent deny medical treatment to a minor child?” n.d). The introduction of support incentives could help to improve the situation and attain significant success.
Ethical concerns related to parents refusals
- families have their unique cultural peculiarities
- religious issues should be respected
- ethical problems introduce barriers to care delivery
- a customized approach to every family
- alteration of the policy related to the issue
- patients ability to dispute
Patients unwillingness to use particular healthcare services because of cultural issues should be considered a critical question. It deteriorates relations between parents and caregivers and results in numerous refusals accepting the suggested care (Frenkel, 2013). Under these conditions, the need for a customized approach that considers the religious and cultural peculiarities of families is critical for the modern healthcare sector to satisfy diverse patients needs.
The absence choice for parents
- parents are suggested the only alternative
- disregard of patients interests
- the need for several options
- parents could make a reasonable decision
- reconsideration of care delivery model
- diversity is the key to success.
Specialists try to identify one of several options that could be considered the best one. However, it limits parents in their choice and deprives them of the opportunity to discuss other alternatives. In this regard, the current model of care delivery should be reconsidered for patients to be able to select the approach that fits the best in a particular case.
References
Consent to treatment – children and young people. (2015).
Frenkel, M. (2013). Refusing treatment. The Oncologist, 18(5), 634-636.
When can a parent deny medical treatment to a minor child? (n.d.). Web.