Telling the truth to seriously ill children

Professor Lynn Gillam
Project Leader

Project Details

This project investigates the approaches that doctors and parents take in giving information to young children who have serious medical conditions. Ethical and clinical guidelines agree that even young children should be given open, accurate and honest information in a developmentally appropriate way. However there is evidence to suggest that doctors find this a challenging and uncertain area, and that children do not receive open communication. This project aims to understand the multiple factors influencing the real-life decisions of doctors and parents about what and when to tell a child; to undertake a practical ethical analysis; and produce practical guidelines and educational resources for parents and doctors.