Cracking the code of the slow code: A taxonomy of slow code practices and their clinical and ethical implications.

The ethical permissibility of the "slow code" sparks vigorous debate. However, definitions of the "slow code" that exist in the literature often leave room for interpretation. Thus, those assessing the ethical permissibility of the slow code may not be operating with shared definitions, and definitions may not align with clinicians' understanding and use of the term in clinical practice.

Pediatric Assent in Clinical Practice: A Critical Scoping Review.

Background: This study assesses how pediatric assent is conceptualized and justified within the therapeutic context. Pediatric ethicists generally agree that children should participate in medical care decisions in developmentally appropriate ways. Much attention has been paid to pediatric assent for research participation, but ambiguities persist in how assent is conceptualized and operationalized in the therapeutic context where countervailing considerations such as the child's best interest and parental permission must also be weighed.

Beyond the Clinical Trials: Off-Protocol Therapeutic Hypothermia.

Mild therapeutic hypothermia has been extensively studied and validated as an effective and safe treatment for term and near-term infants with moderate and severe hypoxic encephalopathy meeting narrow inclusion criteria. Unanswered questions remain about whether cooling treatment can be optimized to improve outcomes even further, and whether it is reasonable to offer treatment to infants excluded from the foundational studies. Consideration of "off-protocol" cooling practices requires methodical review of available evidence and analysis using both a clinical and a research ethical framework.

Conjoined twins: an obstetrician's guide to prenatal care and delivery management.

Objective: Obstetricians infrequently encounter conjoined twins. Much of the clinical care literature focuses on postnatal management from a neonatology and pediatric surgery perspective; guidance on obstetrical management is limited. We outline steps for prenatal evaluation, obstetrical care, and delivery planning.

Ethical decision-making for children with neuromuscular disorders in the COVID-19 crisis.

The sudden appearance and proliferation of coronavirus disease 2019 has forced societies and governmental authorities across the world to confront the possibility of resource constraints when critical care facilities are overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of grievously ill patients. As governments and health care systems develop and update policies and guidelines regarding the allocation of resources, patients and families affected by chronic disabilities, including many neuromuscular disorders that affect children and young adults, have become alarmed at the possibility that they may be determined to have less favorable prognoses due to their underlying diagnoses and thus be assigned to lower priority groups. It is important for health care workers, policymakers, and government officials to be aware that the long-term prognoses for children and young adults with neuromuscular disorders are often more promising than previously believed due to a better understanding of the natural history of these diseases, benefits of multidisciplinary supportive care, and novel molecular therapies that can dramatically improve the disease course.

Impact of standardized prenatal documentation among newborns with ductal-dependent heart disease.

Introduction: Absent risk stratification, variable physiology of ductal-dependent congenital heart disease (DD-CHD) imparts risk of over-medicalization and unnecessary exclusion from early parental bonding.

Methods: Single-center retrospective cohort study of term infants with isolated prenatally diagnosed DD-CHD expected to require immediate advanced resuscitation/intervention (2005-2017). Standardized documentation (2015 onward) included diagnosis, expected saturations, and allowability of postnatal parental bonding.

When Do Pediatricians Call the Ethics Consultation Service? Impact of Clinical Experience and Formal Ethics Training.

Previous research shows that pediatricians inconsistently utilize the ethics consultation service (ECS). Pediatricians in two suburban, Midwestern academic hospitals were asked to reflect on their ethics training and utilization of ECS via an anonymous, electronic survey distributed in 2017 and 2018, and analyzed in 2018. Participants reported their clinical experience, exposure to formal and informal ethics training, use of formal and informal ethics consultations, and potential barriers to formal consultation.

Ethical considerations in the care of complicated twin pregnancies.

Twin gestations are increasing in prevalence worldwide, and are potentially subject to medical complications which present uniquely complex ethical and psychosocial challenges for the pregnant patient and obstetrician to navigate. In this article, we explore these issues as they relate to medical decision-making in cases of discordant growth and discordant anomalies in both monochorionic and dichorionic twin pregnancies, including those affected by twin-twin transfusion syndrome, with particular attention to scenarios in which the individual fetuses hold competing interests. For each of these scenarios, we consider how decisions may positively or negatively impact one or both fetuses, and how familiarity with population outcomes, as well as sensitivity to the complex psychosocial circumstances surrounding these pregnancies, can support and inform shared decision-making.

Perinatal Decision Making for Preterm Infants with Congenital Heart Disease: Determinable Risk Factors for Mortality.

For premature infants with congenital heart disease (CHD), it may be unclear when the burdens of treatment outweigh potential benefits. Parents may thus have to choose between comfort care at birth and medical stabilization until surgical repair is feasible. Better defined outcome data, including risk factors for mortality, are needed to counsel expectant parents who are considering intensive care for premature infants with CHD.

Warning about warnings: weighing risk and benefit when information is in a state of flux.

In 2010, new data about the safety of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) resulted in warnings and subsequent pronouncements by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its European counterpart [the European Medicines Agency (EMA)] regarding its use in children and adolescents as an elective treatment for short stature. However, opinions about these new data are divergent: the FDA did not change the label of the drug and experts have argued for further research on the safety of rhGH. In this situation of an evolving scientific controversy, it is unclear how questions about benefit and risk are communicated to patients and their parents.

Fetal tachyarrhythmia associated with vibroacoustic stimulation.

Background: Vibroacoustic stimulation is commonly used in antepartum fetal testing and has known benefits. Although the procedure has been deemed safe, questions have been raised as to potentially adverse effects, and the adult cardiology literature identifies a link between abrupt sound stimulation and severe tachyarrhythmias.

Case: A fetus with premature atrial contractions converted to supraventricular tachycardia immediately after vibroacoustic stimulation.