Cargando…

Interactions With Police in the Emergency Care of Children: Ethical and Legal Considerations

Emergency medicine providers may interface with law enforcement personnel (LEP) on behalf of their pediatric patients for a variety of reasons, from reporting child abuse to caring for children who are in police custody. Given the unique nature of caring for minors who may not have legal or medical...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Schultz, Megan L., Winn, Madeline, Derse, Arthur R., Kaczor, Frances, Levas, Michael N.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10082052/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36727807
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/PEC.0000000000002908
_version_ 1785021237838217216
author Schultz, Megan L.
Winn, Madeline
Derse, Arthur R.
Kaczor, Frances
Levas, Michael N.
author_facet Schultz, Megan L.
Winn, Madeline
Derse, Arthur R.
Kaczor, Frances
Levas, Michael N.
author_sort Schultz, Megan L.
collection PubMed
description Emergency medicine providers may interface with law enforcement personnel (LEP) on behalf of their pediatric patients for a variety of reasons, from reporting child abuse to caring for children who are in police custody. Given the unique nature of caring for minors who may not have legal or medical autonomy, interactions with LEP can raise ethical concerns for emergency providers, specifically with regard to legal representation, developmental immaturity, and the civil rights of children and their parents/guardians. METHODS: We review 4 patient scenarios, based on real cases experienced by the authors, to demonstrate the legal and ethical issues that may arise when LEP are involved in the emergency care of a child. These scenarios discuss parental/guardian visitation for children in police custody in the emergency department (ED), the practice of making arrests on hospital grounds, and police interviews of children in the ED. RESULTS: Using the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, and justice, we offer recommendations for emergency providers on how to advocate for their pediatric patients in LEP custody within the constraints and protections of the law. We also suggest best practices for hospital systems to develop policies surrounding LEP activity in the ED. CONCLUSIONS: These nuanced situations require careful advocacy for the child and a collaborative approach between medical providers and LEP to balance the child's well-being with public safety. We offer recommendations here, and we maintain that clear, widely adopted best practices for the care of minors in LEP custody are long overdue.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10082052
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2023
publisher Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-100820522023-04-09 Interactions With Police in the Emergency Care of Children: Ethical and Legal Considerations Schultz, Megan L. Winn, Madeline Derse, Arthur R. Kaczor, Frances Levas, Michael N. Pediatr Emerg Care Original Articles Emergency medicine providers may interface with law enforcement personnel (LEP) on behalf of their pediatric patients for a variety of reasons, from reporting child abuse to caring for children who are in police custody. Given the unique nature of caring for minors who may not have legal or medical autonomy, interactions with LEP can raise ethical concerns for emergency providers, specifically with regard to legal representation, developmental immaturity, and the civil rights of children and their parents/guardians. METHODS: We review 4 patient scenarios, based on real cases experienced by the authors, to demonstrate the legal and ethical issues that may arise when LEP are involved in the emergency care of a child. These scenarios discuss parental/guardian visitation for children in police custody in the emergency department (ED), the practice of making arrests on hospital grounds, and police interviews of children in the ED. RESULTS: Using the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, and justice, we offer recommendations for emergency providers on how to advocate for their pediatric patients in LEP custody within the constraints and protections of the law. We also suggest best practices for hospital systems to develop policies surrounding LEP activity in the ED. CONCLUSIONS: These nuanced situations require careful advocacy for the child and a collaborative approach between medical providers and LEP to balance the child's well-being with public safety. We offer recommendations here, and we maintain that clear, widely adopted best practices for the care of minors in LEP custody are long overdue. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2023-04 2023-01-21 /pmc/articles/PMC10082052/ /pubmed/36727807 http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/PEC.0000000000002908 Text en Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) , where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal.
spellingShingle Original Articles
Schultz, Megan L.
Winn, Madeline
Derse, Arthur R.
Kaczor, Frances
Levas, Michael N.
Interactions With Police in the Emergency Care of Children: Ethical and Legal Considerations
title Interactions With Police in the Emergency Care of Children: Ethical and Legal Considerations
title_full Interactions With Police in the Emergency Care of Children: Ethical and Legal Considerations
title_fullStr Interactions With Police in the Emergency Care of Children: Ethical and Legal Considerations
title_full_unstemmed Interactions With Police in the Emergency Care of Children: Ethical and Legal Considerations
title_short Interactions With Police in the Emergency Care of Children: Ethical and Legal Considerations
title_sort interactions with police in the emergency care of children: ethical and legal considerations
topic Original Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10082052/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36727807
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/PEC.0000000000002908
work_keys_str_mv AT schultzmeganl interactionswithpoliceintheemergencycareofchildrenethicalandlegalconsiderations
AT winnmadeline interactionswithpoliceintheemergencycareofchildrenethicalandlegalconsiderations
AT dersearthurr interactionswithpoliceintheemergencycareofchildrenethicalandlegalconsiderations
AT kaczorfrances interactionswithpoliceintheemergencycareofchildrenethicalandlegalconsiderations
AT levasmichaeln interactionswithpoliceintheemergencycareofchildrenethicalandlegalconsiderations