Religiously Motivated Parents Demand Aggressive Life-Sustaining Treatment

An article published "Online First" in the Journal of Medical Ethics in March 2012 has just been widely reported around the world -- "Should religious beliefs be allowed to stonewall a secular approach to withdrawing and withholding treatment in children?"



The physician authors claim that terminally ill children with no hope of survival are subjected to needless suffering amounting to "torture" by parents who refuse to allow the withdrawal of treatment because of their religious beliefs.  The authors argue that families with deeply held hopes for a "miraculous" recovery and trust in divine intervention are increasingly being allowed to "stonewall" medical opinion.  The authors for an overhaul of the legal system to reduce the weight given to parents' religious beliefs in such cases.