Telling the truth to seriously ill children: Considering children's interests when parents veto telling the truth

How should clinicians respond when parents will not allow their child to know the truth about their medical condition and treatment? There is wide consensus amongst clinicians and ethicists that children should be given “honest” information delivered in a developmentally appropriate manner. However, the basis in ethical theory is not clear, especially for pre‐adolescents. These children are old enough to understand some information, but are not yet “mature minors” capable of making their own health care decisions. We take the position that thinking in terms of a child's “right to know” is not the most helpful in dealing with the ethical complexity of these situations. We propose that questions of truth‐telling are best addressed in terms of how a child's interests are promoted or set back by being told the truth. Our first step is to give an account of the concept of children's interests in general. Then we relate that account specifically to truth‐telling. In doing so, we use a relatively straightforward hypothetical but realistic case, in order to illustrate how ethical deliberation using interests would proceed. The case is not intended to be particularly contentious or difficult, so that the focus is on the nature of the ethical reasoning, rather than any complexities of the case.