SEATTLE, Dec. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle today announced plans to establish the Center for Pediatric Bioethics, the nation’s first center for bioethics solely dedicated to the study of research and healthcare for children.
The regional Congressional delegation, in particular United States Senators Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Congressman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) worked diligently to secure this special funding to support the Center.
In addition to the federal appropriation, Children’s Hospital has dedicated $1 million in start-up funding to establish the Center with plans for additional funding in succeeding years.
“The Center is integral to Children’s mission to foster a spirit of inquiry aimed at preventing illness, eliminating disease, and reducing hospitalization and its impact on children and families,” said Treuman Katz, president and CEO at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle. “By addressing the complex ethical issues that affect patients, families, healthcare institutions, and research involving children, the Center will promote the highest standards of medical ethics and protections of patient rights in pediatric research and healthcare. We are extremely grateful for the support of Senators Murray, Burns and Congressman Simpson to make this Center a reality.”
The Center will focus on four primary areas of pediatric bioethics: research in pediatric bioethics; education of medical students, healthcare professionals and the public; providing a resource for families and healthcare professionals facing ethical dilemmas in clinical care; and serving as an advocate for children who are receiving care and participating in research.
“The Center for Pediatric Bioethics will be the first of its kind in the nation, and it will provide a model for the study of policies, practices, and standards in ethical issues in pediatric research and healthcare that can be applied nationally and internationally,” said Norman Fost, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Program in Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin. “This Center has the potential to dramatically increase our understanding of ethical issues in the way healthcare and research for children is conducted.”
The study of pediatric bioethics is particularly important because it requires more than simply adapting the concepts applied to adult healthcare. Delivering healthcare to children and the involvement of children in research raises different questions. For example, the extent in which a child can participate in the decision-making for their healthcare varies with each child and each situation. The relationship and communication that occur between a parent, healthcare provider or researcher, and a child are critical in assuring that the best interests of the child are served.
“Building on the strengths of one of the premier children’s hospitals in the nation, the Center will explore key issues faced by healthcare professionals, researchers and parents, and will help to create an environment that supports families in making informed choices about research participation and the use of innovative treatments,” said Wylie Burke, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Medical History and Ethics at the University of Washington. “Children’s in Seattle has a strong history of commitment to ethics in pediatric healthcare and research. The University of Washington Department of Medical History and Ethics is proud to be closely associated with this new Center.”
The Center’s first undertaking will be to encourage collaboration among national experts in pediatric bioethics by hosting the first annual Conference on Pediatric Bioethics in July -- the first of its kind in the nation -- the conference will be a forum for institutions, researchers and physicians to discuss the relationship between pediatric research, healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry.
“We hope the Center will become a national resource for physicians, researchers, policy makers, parents and patients,” said F. Bruder Stapleton, M.D., pediatrician-in-chief at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center and Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine. “Working closely with Children’s Hospital administrators, we have initiated the recruitment of a world-class pediatrician-bioethicist to direct the Center and serve as chief of the newly created Division of Bioethics in the UW Department of Pediatrics. In the interim, we have appointed Doug Diekema, M.D., M.P.H., a well known and respected bioethicist, to take on these leadership responsibilities.”
Bioethical challenges facing children, families and health care professionals include the involvement of children in research, quality of life for children with terminal illness, end-of-life decision-making, and religious considerations in health care decisions for children. At the Center for Pediatric Bioethics, experts will assist health care professionals and families with difficult decisions by looking for ways they can work together to determine what is in the best interest of the child. Pediatric bioethics also helps children to participate in their own medical decisions, which can include determining if innovative therapies or participation in research studies is appropriate.
In addition to faculty bioethicists, the Center will be staffed with pediatric-trained patient advocates who will work directly with patients and families to ensure appropriate safeguards and to facilitate and enhance communication with medical and research staff.
About Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center
Consistently ranked as one of the best children’s hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report and Child magazines, Children’s serves as the pediatric referral center for Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. Children’s delivers superior patient care, advances new discoveries and treatments in pediatric research, and serves as the primary pediatric teaching site for the University of Washington School of Medicine. For more information about Children’s, visit http://www.seattlechildrens.org/.
Media Contact: Jennifer Seymour Media Relations Manager, Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center 206-987-5207
Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center
CONTACT: Jennifer Seymour, Media Relations Manager of Children’sHospital and Regional Medical Center, +1-206-987-5207
Web site: http://www.seattlechildrens.org/