Ending Midlife Bias

We live at a time when human lifespans have increased like never before. As average lifespans stretch to new lengths, how does this impact the values we hold most dear? Do these values change over the course of our ever-increasing lifespans? Ending Midlife Bias argues that at different life stages, different values emerge as central. During early life, caring and trust matter more, given human vulnerability and dependency. By early adulthood, growing independence provides a reason to value autonomy more. Later in life, heightened risk for chronic disease and disability warrants focusing on maintaining capabilities and keeping dignity intact. Part I (Chapters 1–5) sets forth a conceptual framework that captures these shifting life stage values. Chapter 1 argues against the privileging of midlife values (midlife bias) and explains why population aging lends urgency to identifying values for later life. Chapters 2 and 3 introduce dignity as a central concern for older adults and argue that respecting dignity requires supporting central human capabilities. Chapter 4 explores the metaphor of life as a story, which serves as a corrective for midlife bias by keeping attention on the whole of life. Chapter 5 sets forth principles for age group justice. Part II (Chapters 6–12) turns to practical concerns, including geriatric and pediatric bioethics (Chapter 6); caregiving by family members, migrant workers, and robots (Chapters 7 and 8); ageism in clinical trials, healthcare allocation, and mandatory retirement (Chapter 9); and ethics at the end-of-life (Chapter 10). The closing chapters explore the future of population aging (Chapter 11) and make a pitch for life stage sensitive moral theory (Chapter 12).

Pediatric Collections: Ethics Rounds: A Casebook in Pediatric Bioethics

This collection is intended to be a starting point for a discussion on pediatric bioethics and a reference when reflecting on similar cases. https://shop.aap.org/pediatric-collections-ethics-rounds-a-casebook-in-pediatric-bioethics-paperback/

Examining the complementarity of ‘children’s rights’ and ‘bioethics’ moral frameworks in pediatric health care

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has inspired numerous initiatives to recognize children’s health-related rights. Whereas children’s rights have served as the dominant moral framework for child health concerns in Europe, pediatric bioethics has emerged as the principal framework used in North America. Despite their similarities, these two frameworks differ significantly. Children’s rights initiatives tend to be universalist, highlighting substantive standards for all children, while pediatric bioethics has developed norms, models, and procedures for the ethical analysis and management of individual cases. The aim of this article is to critically examine the respective contributions and intersections of children’s rights and pediatric bioethics moral frameworks in child health. We describe our collaboration bridging our work with these two frameworks to address pediatric health-care concerns in the Republic of Georgia. We conclude with recommendations for how the complementarity of these two frameworks can be further bridged and promoted internationally.