Informed Refusal in Pediatric Practice: a Single Center Experience of a Tertiary Care Children’s Hospital

Objective: Informed consent and refusal of medical procedure and treatment are patient rights that are used by parents or legal representatives of children. This study was conducted to determine the most common treatments and medical procedures refused by parents, their distribution according to cli...

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Main Authors: Mine Korcum, Özlem Bağ, Sevay Alşen Güney
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Istanbul University Press 2021-12-01
Series:Çocuk Dergisi
Subjects:
Online Access:https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/A20C142AC14544C9BFF6E3FB3F1232DD
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author Mine Korcum
Özlem Bağ
Sevay Alşen Güney
author_facet Mine Korcum
Özlem Bağ
Sevay Alşen Güney
author_sort Mine Korcum
collection DOAJ
description Objective: Informed consent and refusal of medical procedure and treatment are patient rights that are used by parents or legal representatives of children. This study was conducted to determine the most common treatments and medical procedures refused by parents, their distribution according to clinics, and the frequency of reporting the refusal as child medical neglect to governmental and/or judicial authorities. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the files in the hospital database of all patients who were admitted to the emergency department, intensive care units, all general pediatrics, pediatric subspecialities and surgery clinics of our hospital between 1 January and 30 June 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients whose medical procedures and treatment were refused during the study period were included in our study. Results: The study group consisted of 348 patients whose medical procedure and treatment were refused by signing an informed refusal form during the study (median age: 1 year 9 months; Male/Female: 197/151). The overall refusal rate was 2.7%. Most of the refusals had occurred in the emergency department. The most common refused recommendation was hospitalization (303/348; 87%), while the most common refused invasive procedure was lumbar puncture (18/39; 46%). There were no cases who refused end-of-life support in the study group, including intensive care units and palliative care units. Only 7.5% of the patients were evaluated as child abuse and neglect, and reported to the governmental/judicial authorities. Conclusion: Discharge against medical advice, which has been reported to increase in recent years, is the most common form of refusal in our study group. Children whose medical procedures and treatment were refused should be carefully evaluated for child abuse and neglect.
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spelling doaj-art-b2c47c0a0ecc43bcb9cb7b1a7e1265422025-08-20T02:15:34ZengIstanbul University PressÇocuk Dergisi1308-84912021-12-0121325425910.26650/jchild.2021.1003850123456Informed Refusal in Pediatric Practice: a Single Center Experience of a Tertiary Care Children’s HospitalMine Korcum0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7432-9453Özlem Bağ1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2178-4695Sevay Alşen Güney2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1064-6115Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi, Istanbul, TurkiyeSağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi, Istanbul, TurkiyeDokuz Eylül Üniversitesi, Izmir, TurkiyeObjective: Informed consent and refusal of medical procedure and treatment are patient rights that are used by parents or legal representatives of children. This study was conducted to determine the most common treatments and medical procedures refused by parents, their distribution according to clinics, and the frequency of reporting the refusal as child medical neglect to governmental and/or judicial authorities. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the files in the hospital database of all patients who were admitted to the emergency department, intensive care units, all general pediatrics, pediatric subspecialities and surgery clinics of our hospital between 1 January and 30 June 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients whose medical procedures and treatment were refused during the study period were included in our study. Results: The study group consisted of 348 patients whose medical procedure and treatment were refused by signing an informed refusal form during the study (median age: 1 year 9 months; Male/Female: 197/151). The overall refusal rate was 2.7%. Most of the refusals had occurred in the emergency department. The most common refused recommendation was hospitalization (303/348; 87%), while the most common refused invasive procedure was lumbar puncture (18/39; 46%). There were no cases who refused end-of-life support in the study group, including intensive care units and palliative care units. Only 7.5% of the patients were evaluated as child abuse and neglect, and reported to the governmental/judicial authorities. Conclusion: Discharge against medical advice, which has been reported to increase in recent years, is the most common form of refusal in our study group. Children whose medical procedures and treatment were refused should be carefully evaluated for child abuse and neglect.https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/A20C142AC14544C9BFF6E3FB3F1232DDrefusal of treatmentrefusal of medical procedureschild abuse and neglectmedical neglectinformed refusal
spellingShingle Mine Korcum
Özlem Bağ
Sevay Alşen Güney
Informed Refusal in Pediatric Practice: a Single Center Experience of a Tertiary Care Children’s Hospital
Çocuk Dergisi
refusal of treatment
refusal of medical procedures
child abuse and neglect
medical neglect
informed refusal
title Informed Refusal in Pediatric Practice: a Single Center Experience of a Tertiary Care Children’s Hospital
title_full Informed Refusal in Pediatric Practice: a Single Center Experience of a Tertiary Care Children’s Hospital
title_fullStr Informed Refusal in Pediatric Practice: a Single Center Experience of a Tertiary Care Children’s Hospital
title_full_unstemmed Informed Refusal in Pediatric Practice: a Single Center Experience of a Tertiary Care Children’s Hospital
title_short Informed Refusal in Pediatric Practice: a Single Center Experience of a Tertiary Care Children’s Hospital
title_sort informed refusal in pediatric practice a single center experience of a tertiary care children s hospital
topic refusal of treatment
refusal of medical procedures
child abuse and neglect
medical neglect
informed refusal
url https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/A20C142AC14544C9BFF6E3FB3F1232DD
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