Website named "Healthy Children": Difference between revisions

Surrogate consent: Revise text.
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{{Construction Site}}
The '''{{FULLPAGENAME}}''' is owned and operated by the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]] ([[AAP]]), a [[medical trade association]], and is used to promote the business and income of its claimed 67,000 pediatrician members. There is an inherent conflict-of-interest between the physician's desire for income and the child's need to avoid unnecessary treatment.<ref name="abraham2005">{{REFweb
The '''{{FULLPAGENAME}}''' is owned and operated by the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]] ([[AAP]]), a [[medical trade association]], and is used to promote the business and income of its claimed 67,000 pediatrician members. The website is published in both English and Spanish versions.
|url=https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/op-ed-american-academy-of-pediatrics-has-lost-its-way/
|title=Op-Ed: American Academy of Pediatrics Has Lost Its Way
|last=Abraham
|first=
|init=RL
|author-link=Ralph Abraham
|publisher=Children's Health Defense
|date=2025-09-04
|accessdate=2025-09-08
}}</ref>
 
The website is published in both English and Spanish versions.


==Circumcision information==
==Circumcision information==
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The AAP does not inform parents on the limitation of surrogates to grant consent for non-therapeutic procedures.
The AAP does not inform parents on the limitation of surrogates to grant consent for non-therapeutic procedures.
===Surrogate consent===
===Surrogate consent===
Autonomy is a major factor in medical ethics. There are ethical limitations on the surrogate.<ref name="bioethics1995">{{REFjournal
Autonomy is a major factor in medical ethics, so there are ethical limitations on the surrogate.<ref name="bioethics1995">{{REFjournal
  |last=Kohrman
  |last=Kohrman
  |first=
  |first=
Line 78: Line 89:
  |doi=
  |doi=
  |accessdate=2025-09-23
  |accessdate=2025-09-23
}}</ref> Surrogates are expected to respect the autonomy of the patient to the maximum extent possible, consistent with providing needed medical treatment. There are no medical indications for [[circumcision of the newborn]], so circumcision is neither diagnosis nor treatment. When the patient is a minor, then [[surrogate consent]] is usually granted by a parent acting as surrogate, but granting consent for medically-unnecessary, non-therapeutic [[circumcision]] exceeds a surrogate's recognized authority.
}}</ref> Surrogates are expected to respect the autonomy of the patient to the maximum extent possible, consistent with providing needed medical treatment. There are no medical indications for [[circumcision of the newborn]], so circumcision is neither diagnosis nor treatment. When the patient is a minor, then [[surrogate consent]] is usually granted by a parent acting as surrogate, but granting consent for medically-unnecessary, non-therapeutic [[circumcision]] exceeds a surrogate's recognized authority.
 
==Violation of patient rights==
==Violation of patient rights==
"Circumcision" actually is an irreversible [[amputation]] of a functional body part. In the [[United States]], even babies have legal rights to bodily integrity.<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12998230422916570030&hl=en&as_sdt=8000003&scfhb=1 Union Pac. Ry. Co v Botsford] 141 U.S. 251 (1890).</ref> Circumcision may lawfully be performed only if someone has granted a valid consent for the amputation, however no one has the legal power to grant consent in the absence of a medical indication for a non-therapeutic circumcision of a minor.<ref name="hill2003">{{REFjournal
"Circumcision" actually is an irreversible [[amputation]] of a functional body part. In the [[United States]], even babies have legal rights to bodily integrity.<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12998230422916570030&hl=en&as_sdt=8000003&scfhb=1 Union Pac. Ry. Co v Botsford] 141 U.S. 251 (1890).</ref> Circumcision may lawfully be performed only if someone has granted a valid consent for the amputation, however no one has the legal power to grant consent in the absence of a medical indication for a non-therapeutic circumcision of a minor.<ref name="hill2003">{{REFjournal
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}}</ref>
}}</ref>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
The decision to perform non-therapeutic [[circumcision]] belongs to the patient, not the parents.
The decision to perform non-therapeutic [[circumcision]] belongs to the patient, not the parents.<ref name="myers2020">{{REFjournal
|last=Myers
|first=
|init=A
|author-link=Alex Myers
|last2=Earp
|first2=
|init2=BD
|author2-link=Brian D. Earp
|etal=no
|title=What is the best age to circumcise? A medical and ethical analysis
|trans-title=
|language=
|journal= Bioethics
|location=
|date=2020
|volume=34
|issue=7
|pages=645-63
|url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brian-Earp-2/publication/337720859_What_Is_the_Best_Age_to_Circumcise_A_Medical_and_Ethical_Analysis/links/5f815f61a6fdccfd7b555395/What-Is-the-Best-Age-to-Circumcise-A-Medical-and-Ethical-Analysis.pdf
|archived=
|quote=Based on a careful consideration of the relevant evidence, arguments and counterarguments, we conclude that medically unnecessary penile circumcision-like other medically unnecessary genital procedures, such as 'cosmetic' labiaplasty-should not be performed on individuals who are too young (or otherwise unable) to provide meaningful consent to the procedure.
|pubmedID=32068898
|pubmedCID=
|DOI=
|doi=10.1111/bioe.12714
|format=PDF
|accessdate=2025-09-23
}}</ref>


The Healthy Children Website fails to tell parents that [[circumcision]] is a medically unnecessary, non-therapeutic surgical operation/[[amputation]] that may be deferred until the boy can decide for himself if he wants to sacrifice his [[foreskin]].
The Healthy Children Website fails to tell parents that [[circumcision]] is a medically-unnecessary, non-therapeutic surgical operation/[[amputation]] that may be deferred until the boy can decide for himself whether he wants to sacrifice his [[foreskin]].


{{LINKS}}
{{LINKS}}