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The use of partial code status in pediatric medicine presents clinicians with unique ethical challenges. The clinical vignette describes the presentation of a pulseless infant with a limited life expectancy. The infant's parents instruct the emergency medicine providers to resuscitate but not to intubate. In an emergency, without a clear understanding of parents' goals, complying with their request risks an ineffective resuscitation. The first commentary focuses on parental grief and how, in certain circumstances, a partial code best serves their needs. Its authors argue that providers are sometimes obligated to endure moral distress. The second commentary focuses on the healthcare team's moral distress and highlights the implications of a relational ethics framework for the case. The commentators emphasize the importance of honest communication and pain management. The final commentary explores the systems-level and how the design of hospital code status orders may contribute to requests for partial codes. They argue systems should discourage partial codes and prohibit resuscitation without intubation., (Copyright © 2023 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.)

Competing Interests: POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The authors have indicated they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of medicine and raises numerous moral dilemmas for clinicians. Foremost of these quandaries is how to delineate and implement crisis standards of care and, specifically, how to consider how health care resources should be distributed in times of shortage. We review basic principles of disaster planning and resource stewardship with ethical relevance for this and future public health crises, explore the role of illness severity scoring systems and their limitations and potential contribution to health disparities, and consider the role for exceptionally resource-intensive interventions. We also review the philosophical and practical underpinnings of crisis standards of care and describe historical approaches to scarce resource allocation to offer analysis and guidance for pediatric clinicians. Particular attention is given to the impact on children of this endeavor. Although few children have required hospitalization for symptomatic infection, children nonetheless have the potential to be profoundly affected by the strain on the health care system imposed by the pandemic and should be considered prospectively in resource allocation frameworks., Competing Interests: POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The authors have indicated they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2020 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.)

Objectives: The goal was to investigate the relationships of income and income inequality with neonatal and infant health outcomes in the United States., Methods: The 2000-2004 state data were extracted from the Kids Count Data Center. Health indicators included proportion of preterm births (PTBs), proportion of infants with low birth weight (LBW), proportion of infants with very low birth weight (VLBW), and infant mortality rate (IMR). Income was evaluated on the basis of median family income and proportion of federal poverty levels; income inequality was measured by using the Gini coefficient. Pearson correlations evaluated associations between the proportion of children living in poverty and the health indicators. Linear regression evaluated predictive relationships between median household income, proportion of children living in poverty, and income inequality for the 4 health indicators., Results: Median family income was negatively correlated with all birth outcomes (PTB, r = -0.481; LBW, r = -0.295; VLBW, r = -0.133; IMR, r = -0.432), and the Gini coefficient was positively correlated (PTB, r = 0.339; LBW, r = 0.398; VLBW, r = 0.460; IMR, r = 0.114). The Gini coefficient explained a significant proportion of the variance in rate for each outcome in linear regression models with median family income. Among children living in poverty, the role of income decreased as the degree of poverty decreased, whereas the role of income inequality increased., Conclusions: Both income and income inequality affect infant health outcomes in the United States. The health of the poorest infants was affected more by absolute wealth than relative wealth.

Publication of an account of growth attenuation with high-dose estrogen in a child with profound physical and cognitive disability brought widespread attention to a common and complex issue faced by families caring for similarly affected children, namely, the potentially negative effect of the increasing size of a child on the ability of his or her family to provide independent care, which in turn makes it more difficult for parents to keep the child in the home and involved in family activities. In this article we explore the scientific rationale for, effectiveness and safety of, and ethical considerations bearing on growth-attenuation treatment of children with profound and permanent cognitive disability. Informed responses to key clinically relevant questions are proposed. Our analysis suggests that growth attenuation is an innovative and sufficiently safe therapy that offers the possibility of an improved quality of life for nonambulatory children with profound cognitive disability and their families. Pediatricians and other care providers should include discussion of these options as part of anticipatory guidance around the age of 3 years so that, if elected, potential clinically meaningful benefits of growth-attenuation therapy can be realized. Because of the publicity and debate surrounding the first reported case, ethics consultation is recommended.

The purpose of this study was to determine the risk of submersion injury and drowning among children with epilepsy and to define further specific risk factors. In a population-based retrospective cohort study the authors identified and reviewed records of all 0-through 19-year-old residents of King County, Washington, who suffered a submersion incident between 1974 and 1990. Children with epilepsy were compared with those without epilepsy with regard to age, sex, site of incident, supervision, outcome, and presence of preexisting handicap. Relative risks were determined using population-based estimates of epilepsy prevalence. Of 336 submersions, 21 (6%) occurred among children with epilepsy. Children with epilepsy were more likely to be greater than 5 years old (86% vs 47%) and more likely to submerge in a bathtub (38% vs 11%). The relative risk of submersion for children with epilepsy was 47 (95% confidence interval [CI] 22 to 100) in the bathtub and 18.7 (95% CI 9.8 to 35.6) in the pool. The relative risk of drowning for children with epilepsy was 96 (95% CI 33 to 275) in the bathtub and 23.4 (95% CI 7.1 to 77.1) in the pool. These data support an increased risk of submersion and drowning among children with epilepsy.